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THOUGHTS-^OCCASION 

anniversary ant> IReliQioua 

A REPOSITORY OF HISTORICAL DATA AND 
FACTS, BEAUTIFUL THOUGHTS, AND 
WORDS OF WISDOM 

Helpful in Suggesting Themes, and in Outlining Addresses 

for the Observance of Timely Occasions and Special Days 

indicated by our Christian Year 



NEW YEAR'S SERVICE RALLYING DAY 

FAST DAY SERVICE HARVEST HOME SERVICE 

LENTEN SEASON THANKSGIVING SERVICE 

EASTER DAY THOUGHTS CHRISTMAS DAY SERVICE 

CHILDREN'S DAY SERVICE CLOSING YEAR SERVICE 

OLD HOME WEEK 

COMMUNION SERVICE CORNER-STONE LAVING 

DEDICATION SERVICE INSTALLATION SERVICE 

YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES 



Edited by FRANKLIN NOBLE, D. D. 

Editor of The Treasury Magazine 




NEW YORK 

E. B. TREAT & COMPANY 

241-243 WEST 23D STREET 
I907 



Mb 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Cooles Received 

APR 1 1907 

n Copyright Entry^, 
CLASS A XXc„ No. 



Copyright, 1895, 
By E. B. Treat. 



Copyright, 1907, 
By E. B. Treat & Co. 



PREFACE. 

The large success of " Thoughts for the Occasion ; Patriotic 
and Secular," has necessitated the compilation of this volume. 
Its plan primarily is to cover the Christian year, noting those 
occasions which claim special attention from pastors and other 
Christian leaders. But in making up a Christian year which 
will meet the thought of Christians generally, it has been found 
that the formal ecclesiastical calendar does not include a num- 
ber of anniversaries, like Children's Day and Thanksgiving 
Day, which are most noteworthy and honored. There are also 
many occasions which do not hold any appointed place in the 
year, yet are of great and perhaps increasing interest and im- 
portance. Some of these are of regularly recurring appoint- 
ment, like the Communion Service ; and others, like the con- 
ventions and other services of the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation and the Christian Endeavor Society, come into the work 
of every pastor and many a Sunday-school teacher. 

Such occasions form a special call upon a public worker, and 
demand some of his best work ; and it is of great help if he 
can, on the shortest notice, put himself in touch with those who 
have heard a like call, and already thought the matter through, 
and expressed themselves as the occasion demands. 

Where an occasion so recurring has a history, the speaker 
wishes to know that history ; and there is therefore given a 
brief historical statement at the head of each department. 
This is followed by selections, as various in character as possi- 

5 



6 PREFACE. 

ble, from the speeches, essays, or poems of those who best im- 
proved the occasion. A glance over the table of contents will 
show how large and various is the number of authors quoted. 
For the most part it has been sought to display the words of 
the representative men of the church militant to-day, whose 
clarion call summons all Christian workers into sympathy and 
associated effort. At the same time there has been no hesita- 
tion in bringing out elegant and classic utterances and poems 
of well-established fame where they well illustrate the idea of 
the occasion. 

The volume, therefore, will be found to contain a large 
body of literature of a high and entertaining order, while its 
first effort is to show what is the current thought of the worthi- 
est men of the living present. 



CONTENTS 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY. 



Historical 

Anno Domini .... 

The Progress of Years 

God among the Centuries 

Another Year of Time . 

Reflections on the New Year . 

A New-Year's Address . 

New-Year's Day Meditation 

What will the New Year Bring ? . 

New- Year's Longings 

The New Year .... 

The Milestones of Life 

Make the New Year a Happy One 

The Outlook for the New Year . 

Thoughts Pertinent to the New Year 

New Every Morning . 

New-Year's Mottoes 

The Hope of the Year 

A New- Year's Wish 

A New- Year's Prayer 



Jesse B. Thomas, D.D. . 
A Mosaic .... 
T. De Witt Talmage, D. D. 
Charles A. Stoddard, D.D. 
Bishop Matthew Simpson 
Rev. Cliarles Garrett . 
Dr. A. Tholuck 
Christian Advocate 
Sunday-school Times 
E. D. H., in Golden Rule . 
J. F. S. , in Lutheran 
Ladies' Home Journal 
Rev. H. C. Jennings 



Susan Coolidge 

Christian Observer 

J. G. Whittier . 

R.G.H., in Christian Mirror 

Anonymous 



-7 
20 
26 
SO 
37 
4i 

46 

47 
48 

50 
5i 
52 
53 
54 
56 
57 
58 
58 
59 



FAST-DAY— GOOD FRIDAY AND LENTEN SEASON. 

Historical 63 

The First Good Friday .... Phillips Brooks . . 65 

The Groups around the Cross . . . T. De Witt Talmage, D.D. 72 

The Man of Sorrows .... Charles H. Parkhurst, D.D. 80 

Learn during Lent to Say " No " . . Bishop H. C. Potter . . 86 

What Lent may Suggest .... Christian Age ... 87 

Lenten Reflections 87 

A Scriptural Lent Robert Herrick . . 88 

EASTER THOUGHTS. 

Historical 93 

Some Easter Certainties .... E. P. Goodwin, D.D. . 94 

The Resurrection of Christ . . . Bishop Samuel Fallows . 99 

The Living Witnesses of the Resurrection Bishop E. R. Hendrix . 101 

The Resurrection Lyman Abbott, D.D. . 104 

The First Appearance of the Risen Lord to 

the Eleven Rev. C. H. Spurgeon . 109 

vii 



Vlll 



CONTENTS. 



Resurrection 

The Resurrection Miracle 

The Logic of Easter 

The Effect of the Resurrection upon the 

Character of Peter .... 
The Sleepers Wakened .... 

The Soul's Easter 

The Seven Words of Jesus on the Cross 

Immortality 

Risen with Christ 

Thoughts Pertinent to Easter Day . 

See the Land, Her Easter Keeping . . 

Easter Hymn 

Easter Reflections 

Easter Bells 

The Lord is Risen 

Life in Christ ...... 



Rev. I. M. Haldeman 
Andrew Bonar, D.D. 
George C. Lorimer, D.D. 

Edward Judson, D.D. 
T. De Witt Talmage, D.D. 
Theo. L. Cuyler, D.D. 
Dr. J. Ch. Riggenbach 
Rev. John H Barrows 
Theo. L. Cuyler, D.D. 



Charles Kingsley . 
Sarah K. Bolton 
Phillips Brooks 
Margaret E. Sangster 
Charles Wesley 
Samuel Medley 



114 
120 
122 

12S 

132 
138 
141 

143 
144 

145 
147 
148 
149 
149 
151 
151 



CHILDREN'S DAY. 



Kingdom 



Historical .... 

Jesus and the Children . 

Sermon to Children 

A Children's Sermon 

Some Telling Facts and Figures 

The Relation of the Child to the 

of God and the Church 
Children and the Church 
Child Conversion 
Unconverted Children . 
Children's Day . 
Lyric for Children's Day 
Hymn for Children's Sunday 
Flowers .... 
A Strip of Blue . 
The Noble Nature 
The Fountain . 
Strive, Wait, and Pray . 
Thoughts Pertinent to Children's Day 



Rev. C. H. Spurgeon 
Charles H. Parkhurst, D.D. 
Rev. Albert Donne II 
E. T. Bromfield, D.D. 

Rev. J. J. Bernhardt . 
S. Irenceus Prime, D.D. 
Edward Judson, D.D. . 
S. E. Wishard, D.D. 
Susan Teall Perry 
Rev. Dwight Williams 



Longfellow 

Lucy Larcom 

Ben Jonson 

James Russell Lowell 

Adelaide A. Procter . 



155 
156 
164 
168 
169 

171 

174 
177 
179 
182 
184 
187 
188 
189 

IQO 
I 9 I 
I 9 I 
I92 



RALLYING DAY. 



Historical . . . 
The Occasion, and Why . 
Ante-Rallying-Day Thoughts 
Vacation Responsibilities . 
Our Model Sabbath-school . 
United Movement for Gathering in the Neg 
lected Children .... 

Rallying Day 

The Use of Rallying Day . 
Sabbath-school Kite-strings . 
How to make Rallying Day a Success 
Catch them Young .... 

Reawakening 

Rallying Day and After 

A Rallying Day for the Church . 



199 

James A. Worden, D.D. 199 

Presbyterian Banner . . 203 

Reberi C Ogden . . 203 
J. S. Phillips . . .205 

James A. Worden, D.D. 206 

Hon. John Wanamaker . 210 

Rev. E. M. Fergusson . 211 

Hon. H. Agnew Johnston . 212 

James A. Worden, D.D. 213 

Rev. Gerard B. F. Hallock 214 

Morning Star . . 216 

E. T. Bromfield, D.D. . 217 

E. T. Bromfield, D.D. 219 



CONTENTS. 



IX 



HARVEST-HOME SERVICE. 



Historical 

A Farmer's Song 

Harvest-home 

At Harvest-time 

The Glories of Autumn 

Harvest-songs . 

The Harvest-moon 

An Autumn Homily . 

The Harvest-tide . 

The Joyous Festival of the 

Autumn .... 

Harvest Thoughts 

An Autumn Lesson 

Soul-satisfying Bread 

The Bread of Life 

Harvest-home . 

Autumn Days . 



Leaves 



. 223 

John Clifford, D.D. . 227 

J. Byington Smith . . 234 

Christian at Work . 235 

Z ion's Herald . . . 237 

T. De Witt Talmage, D.D. 239 

Margaret E. Sangster . 239 

D. L. G 240 

Presbyterian Witness . 244 

Nor. Christian Advocate . 247 

Marcus Marlow . . 249 

Rev. George Alfred Paull 249 

N. Y. Christian Advocate 251 

Rev. C H. Spurgeon . 252 

Rev. T. Puddicombe . 254 
Christian at Work . .255 

Springfield Republican . 256 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 



Historical 

The First Thanksgiving for the New World 
The First Presidential Thanksgiving Proc- 
lamation 

The Home Gathering .... 
Man and his Thanksgiving 
Thanksgiving Thoughts 
Thanksgiving : Its Memories and Habits 

Sursum Corda 

The Grace of Thankfulness 

Grateful Thanks 

Our Feast of Tabernacles 

True Thanksgiving .... 

Thanksgiving-day Manna 

Thankful in All Things 

Historic Thanksgiving 

The Pilgrims' Thanksgiving 

When Harvest Days are Over . 

The Crown of the Year 

Manifold Blessings .... 

Thanks be to God .... 

Thanksgiving Hymn 

Thankful though Weary 

A Thanksgiving Hymn 

The Blessing from the Skies 

The Thanksgiving of the Fathers 

The First Thanksgiving 

An Old Colonial Thanksgiving 

Thoughts Pertinent to Thanksgiving Day 



Youth's 



G. Washington. 
W. Adams, D.D. . 
Professor David Swing 
J. R. Miller, D.D. 
William Adams, D.D. 
David J. Burr ell, D.D, 
H. D. Fisher, D.D. 
J. B. Walker, D.D. 
Henry M. Field, D.D. 
A. B. Pope . 
Lillian F. Lewis 
Christian Union . 
Olive E. Dana . 
Arthur T. Plerson, D.D, 
Miss M. E. Wlnslow 
Celia Thaxter 
E. Whitaker, D.D. . 
Frances R. Havergal 
Will Carleton . 
Phoebe Cary . 
Rev. William Kethe 
Margaret E. Sangster 
American Agriculturist 
Evangelist . 



259 
261 

262 
264 

275 
282 
286 
289 
291 
293 
294 
297 
300 
302 

305 
308 
310 
312 
313 
314 
316 
316 
3i8 
3^9 
320 
321 
323 
324 



CHRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 



Historical . . . . 
Christmas Usages in Europe 
The Meaning of Christmas 



Herald and Presbyter 
Observer 



329 
33° 
332 



CONTENTS. 



Christmas in December . 

A Holiday Sermon 

The Taxing under Cyrenius 

The Lesson of Christmas Day 

The Angels' Song 

Peace on Earth 

Christmas .... 

What Christmas Brought 

The Star of the Wise Men 

Christmas Carol . 

The Bells across the Snow 

A Blessed Fact 

Christmas .... 

Christmas Sympathy . 

Christmas Bells . 

A Happy Christmas to You . 

Christmas .... 

Christmas Day 



John Clifford . 

D. L. Moody 

David J. Burrell, D.D. . 
Hugh Price Hughes, M.A. 
P. S. Henson, D.D. 
James Russell Lowell 
George William Curtis . 
Canon H. P. Liddoti 

E. Blencowe . 
Phillips Brooks ... 
Frances R. Havergal . 
Christian at Work . 
Rev. H. G. Denison 
The Advocate . 
He?iry W. Longfellow . 
Frances R. Havergal 
Robert M. Offord . 
Szisan Coolidge 



PAGE 

334 
338 

343 
3SO 
356 
361 
362 

364 
366 

3 6 7 
368 

369 
370 
371 
372 
373 
374 
375 



CLOSING-YEAR SERVICE. 



Historical 

The Dying Year 

The Dying Year 

The Record 

Nearing the End 

The Departing Year 

God's Faithfulness Vindicated by our Expe- 
rience 

The Dying Year ..... 

The Old-Year Review 

The Closing Days of the Year . 

The Preaching Leaves . . . • . 

Retrospect .' 

What have we Gained in the Year ? . 
The Year's Ledger . . . 
A Song for New- Year's Eve .... 
The Old Year's Blessing .... 

To the Old Year 

Farewell to the Old Year . . . 

The End of the Year and the End of Life . 

Hopefully Waiting . 

At Last 



Rev. J. M. Hubbert 
Epworth Herald 



Dr. Horatius Bonar . 
Christian Advocate 

Franklin Noble, D.D. 
S. V. Leech, D.D. 
Vermont Chronicle 
Nor. Christian Advocate 
Henry F. Lyte . 
John Newton 
Rev. J. L. Harris 
Amelia E. Barr . 
William Cullen Bryant 
Frances L. Mace . 
M. K. A. Stone 
Sarah Doudney 
G. W. Bethune 
A. D. F. Randolph 
John G. Whittier . 



379 
379 
387 
389 
390 
390 

392 
397 
399 
400 
402 

403 
404 
408 
410 
412 

413 
414 

415 
416 

417 



OLD HOME WEEK. 



Historical . , . . . 
Old Home Week— Annual Address 
Beauty and Meaning of Home Coming . 
The Benefits of Old Home Week 
The True Spirit of Old Home Week . 
Home Recollections .... 
The Old Home Re-Visited 
Home The Fountain of Civic Righteous- 
ness 

A Tribute to the Virtues of New England 

The Endearments of Home 

Our Goodly Heritage and Traditions . 



419 

Gov. Frank W. Rollins . 421 

Thos. Nelson Page . 425 

Hon. W. E. Chandler . 431 

Hon. J. H. Gallinger . 433 

F. W. Crooker, Esq. . 436 

Hon. Lucien M. Kilbum. 440 

Rev. W. T. Carter . 441 

Hon. H. E. Hoivland . 445 

Hon. H. E. Putney . 447 

Prof. C. S. Broodley . 449 



CONTENTS. x i 

MISCELLANEOUS OCCASIONS. 

COMMUNION SERVICE. 

A Communion Sermon . . R. M. Patterson, D.D. . 453 

The Meaning of the Lord's Supper . Smith Baker, D.D. . 456 

A Layman's Suggestions to Ministers . Journal and Messenger. 459 

Eating and Drinking Unworthily . Charles F. Deems, D.D. 461 
Why not " Do this in Remembrance of 

Christ"? Norman Macleod, D.D. 463 

A Sacramental Hymn . . . . E. A. Tydeman . . 464 

The True Meaning of the Lord's Supper. Howard Crosby, D.D. 465 

Communion Texts and Themes . . Rev. G. B. F. Hallock . 467 

CORNER-STONE LAYING. 

Christ a Living Stone R. S. MacArthur, D.D. . 472 

St. Peter's Church, Chicago 477 

First Baptist Church, Brooklyn 479 

DEDICATION SERVICES. 

Divine Strength and Beauty in Holy 

Worship Win. B. Stevens, D.D. . 481 

Dedication Sermon for Bethesda People's 

Church, Brooklyn . . . . A. J. F. Behrends, D.D. 494 

Dedication Hymn George F. Hunting, D.D. 495 

INSTALLATION SERVICE. 

Installation of Rev. J. M. Dickinson, D.D.: 

Charge to the Pastor . . . Rev. E. 0. Bartlett . 407 

Right Hand of Fellowship . . . Rev. J. H. Lyon . . 563 

Charge to the People .... Rev. Alex. McGregor . e;o=; 
A Charge to the Rev. Howard Duf- 

field, D.D Professor Duffield . mo 

Installation of the Rev. F. M. Ellis, D.D. . . . . .521 

YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES. 

Young Men's Christian Association . Historical . . . 524 

Fifty years old Sir George Williams . ' 525 

Diligence and its Reward . . Rev. Ezra Tinker, M.A. 528 
Young People's Society of Christian En- 
deavor , 

Watchwords for the Twentieth 

Century Joseph Cook . . . S34 

Epworth League e^y 

The League Prayer-meeting . . Rev. E. P. Stevens . ' . «8 

Order of King's Daughters and Sons tV, 

The International Order of the 

King's Daughters and Sons . Margaret Bottome . . 541 

" For His Sake, and in His Name " Ellen M. H. Gates . S44 

Brotherhood of St. Andrew 2Jg 

Brotherhood of Andrew and Philip . . . . . * cU 

Bovs' Brigade t/ 7 

Baptist Young People's Union of 

America -^ 



534 



THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY. 

Historical. The Calendar. — In the absence of accurate ob- 
servation it was not to be expected that ancient peoples should 
arrange the calendar or compute time without error. The changes 
of the seasons gave a natural division of years, and the phases of 
the moon a division of months ; but some correction of the rude 
natural calendar was early desired, and every nation fixed the be- 
ginning and length of its year by legal enactment. 

Our mode of reckoning is derived from the Roman. Romulus 
is said to have established a year of 304 days, which he divided 
into 10 months. It began in March, and the names of September, 
October, November, and December remain, indicating their place 
in the calendar. His months were longer than a lunar month, 
and his year so much shorter than the solar year that January 
and February were soon added, making the legal year contain 354 
days, and 12 months of 29 and 30 days alternately; and another 
day was added to make 355, because the odd number was thought 
more fortunate. This year was still found to be shorter than the 
solar year, and Numa Pompilius is said to have ordered the inser- 
tion every second year of an intercalary month, consisting alter- 
nately of 22 and 23 days, between the 23d and 24th of February. 
This gave the average legal year 366^ days, and a further correc- 
tion was decreed to reduce it to 365^. The intercalation and 
corrections, however, were complicated and confusing, and errors 
were made by the legal officers in proclaiming them, and these 
errors had so accumulated that Julius Caesar found the legal spring 
equinox differing from the astronomical equinox by three months. 

Caesar reformed the calendar, intercalating, in the year 47 B.C., 
two extraordinary months of 33 and 34 days between November and 
December, and, as the year already had an intercalary month ac- 
cording to the older law, it was lengthened to 445 days. It was 
called, indeed, "the year of confusion." But the first Julian year 
began January I, 46 B.C., and Caesar decreed that the first, and 

17 



i8 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

each alternate month following, should have 31 days, the other 
months having 30 days, except February, which should annually 
have 29 days, and each fourth year 30 days. This excellent calen- 
dar, simple and easily remembered, was marred by Augustus Caesai, 
whose vanity made him insist that the month August, which was 
named in his honor, should have as many days as July-named 
after his uncle, Julius Caesar-and the months fo lowing were all 
changed to save having three long months-July, August and 
September— together, and February was shortened to 28 and 29 

a OLD Style and New.— The average Julian year was 11 min- 
utes and 14 seconds longer than the astronomical year, and the 
rules for intercalation were not understood or observed accurately, 
so that in 1582 the vernal equinox had retrograded from the 25th 
of March to the nth; and at that time Pope Gregory XIII. re- 
formed the calendar, directing that ten days be suppressed, and 
that hereafter the leap-year intercalation be omitted on all the cen- 
tenary vears excepting those which are multiples ol 400. l he year 
1900, therefore, will not be a leap-year. This correction reconciles 
the civil with the solar year. From the year 1582 to 1700 the dif- 
ference between the old style and the new or reformed style con- 
tinued to be 10 days; but 1700 being a leap-year according to the 
Julian calendar, but a common year by the Gregorian the differ- 
ence between old style and new style during the eighteenth cen- 
tury was 11 days, and as 1800 was also common in the new calen- 
dar, the difference in the nineteenth century is 12 days, and from 
1900 to 2100 it will be 13 days. ^a™**a 

The reformed Gregorian calendar was only gradually adopted, 
being approved in England under George II. by act of Parliament 
which enacted that the day following September 3, 1752, should 
be known as the 14th. In England and America dates about this 
time are often written O. S. or N. S. (Old Style or New) for greater 
assurance. In all these changes the days of the week were .not af- 
fected. At present the New Style is used in all Christian coun- 
tries, except Russia and other countries of the 9 ree \ C £" r ^* nf 
The Jewish religious year begins in the spring, at the time of 
their deliverance from Egypt, and is marked by the festival of the 
Passover. Their civil year, however, began in October. 

ANNO DOMINI.-The Jews number their years from the sup- 
posed period of the creation of the world reckoning by the Old 
Testament narratives. These have come down ^ three distinct 
channels-the Hebrew text, the Samaritan text, and the Greek ver- 
sion known as the Septuagint. But these texts in copying have been 
corrupted till their chronology differs irreconcilably, andwedon 
know which was preferred when the Old Testament books were 
revised and transcribed by Ezra. After their captivity and disper- 
sion the Jews adopted for common use the numeration .of the more 
enlightened heathen among whom they lived j but in the fifteenth 



KEW-YEAR'S DAY. 19 

century they began generally to date from the creation, which, ac- 
cording to their computation at that time, took place about 3760 
years B.C. (before Christ); though the chronology of Archbishop 
Usher, published in 1650, places the creation at 4004 B.C., and this 
date is printed in the margin of the English Bible, and has com- 
monly been accepted in the church until discredited by quite re- 
cent scholarship. 

The Babylonians reckoned from the era of Nabonassar, 747 B.C. 
The Greeks reckoned by Olympiads, periods of four years, begin- 
ning 776 B.C., in the year when Coroebus was victor in the Olympic 
games. The Romans reckoned from the foundation of the city 
(A.U.C., anno urbis co?idit<z), most commonly dated 753 B.C. 

The practice, now universal in civilized lands, of dating the 
years from the birth of Christ, came gradually into use. It was 
first introduced in Italy in the sixth century by Dionysius the 
Little, a Roman abbot. It began to be used in Gaul in the eighth 
century, and came into general use there in the ninth century. It 
was in use in England toward the close of the eighth century. A 
date thus determined in Europe in a time of great general igno- 
rance, before the revival of learning, has been conceded to have 
been wrong by three or four years, chronologists being now prac- 
tically agreed that our Lord was born three or four years before 
the beginning of the present era. As, however, it seems impos- 
sible to decide the exact year with absolute certainty, and as a 
change in the recorded dates of written history would cause im- 
mense labor and confusion, it is probable that the present era will 
remain undisturbed, A.D. continuing to mean popularly the year 
reckoned from the birth of Christ, though, as known by all schol- 
ars, actually reckoned from three or four years later. Its common 
use is a common confession of the incarnation as the central fact in 
history, all earlier history leading up to it, and properly dated so 
many years B.C. (before Christ); all later history really develop- 
ing from the incarnation, and properly dated a year of the Lord. 
Imagine an infidel who denies our Lord Jesus Christ writing a 
letter or a legal document and dating the year of the Lord whom 
he denies ! Once the Jews reckoned time from the creation, the 
Greeks, from the first Olympiad, the Romans, from the foundation 
of the imperial city, but the civilized world now dates from Anno 
Domini ! Thus far hath Jesus already conquered. 



Hours are golden links, God's token 
Reaching heaven ; but one by one 

Take them, let the chain be broken 
Ere the pilgrimage be done. 

A. A. Proctor. 



2o THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION* 

"ANNO DOMINI."* 

JESSE B. THOMAS, D.D. 
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. — Luke iv. 19. 

"A.D." — the world writes the letters carelessly as it turns 
the page to record for the first time the new year; but in 
these letters is the " open secret " of the ages, for this, too, is 
a "year of our Lord," an "acceptable year," a "year of 
grace." 

With the close of the old year a day of accounting comes. 
Letters and accounts are filed and housed away, having left 
their substance sifted into figures on the books. The stock in 
shelf and store-room, measured, counted, and weighed, yields 
its quota to the reckoning, and the measure bearing the year's 
harvesting is evenly stricken. 

For some the heaped-up surplus falls into garners already 
well filled — it is a year of triumph; they say to their souls, 
"Take thine ease." 

For others it is a year of doom. Their shrunken resources 
fall far below the brim; they "owe a thousand talents, and 
have nothing to pay." A year of doom, for the secret will 
not lie silent on the page. Out of the figures, blurred in their 
anxious vision, seems to rise a hand which writes, not only on 
the record of the past, but on the white margin of the future, 
" Ruined " ; a hand that, with " flaming sword," drives out 
wife and children from their inheritance, and keeps the door 
against them ; a hand of iron, that lays manacles upon them- 
selves, and brands them in the forehead with the mark of 
bondage. The vision is true. In a few days counting-house 
and home are empty ; the wife is hiding even from the gaze 
of pity that burns like fire ; the children's life is dwarfed in the 

* A New-Year's sermon (in part) preached in the First Baptist Church, 
Pierpont Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



KEW-YEAR'S DAY. 21 

cold shadow of a grief they do not understand ; and the father, 
too proud to serve, too old to begin life anew, lingers in the 
margin of his former haunts, waiting for crumbs of fortune, 
until " heart and flesh fail." 

Such as these are the parables of life, whose facts men see, 
but whose lessons they will not learn. They count failure a 
misfortune, and therefore not a fault ; as though it were no 
fault to trust to the favor of fortune rather than the justice of 
law. The full-grown scholar, setting aside the lessons of his 
childhood, on his bigger slate, through all the problem, per- 
sists in reckoning two and two as five, and " sells short," " lives 
fast," " overtrades " accordingly, and yet wonders at last that 
his figures are rubbed out as worthless. Doubtless there are 
exceptions, but as a rule the insolvent need not look to earth- 
quake or tornado as the cause of falling walls, but to the care- 
lessness of his own hand, that by uncounted expenditure or 
reckless venture has removed the first foundation-stone. 

Israel, rescued from Egyptian bondage, was established in 
Canaan, a free people without caste, and equal in inheritance 
in the land. Every man dwelling among his kindred, the 
owner of an estate whose fertility was security against want, 
owing no man, and second to none in rank — the highest con- 
ditions for the realization and permanence of a perfect human 
society existed. Yet the law which established this order 
made provision for its certain failure. It was foreseen that 
men unrestrained would mar the harmonious fabric, and within 
fifty years the land be filled on the one side with capitalists 
and aristocrats, and on the other with paupers, vagrants, and 
slaves. The history of this disruption of society is clearly indi- 
cated. Its first step is debt (not obligation simply, but in the 
narrower and more usual scriptural sense of the word, obligation 
beyond ability) — and debt is branded as sin. 

Honest traffic is the interchange of actual values ; it tends 
to frankness, maintains equality, and binds men in unity. It 
is within the law. Speculation abandons law to trust to for- 
tune ; dealing not in the actual, but the possible, the gain of the 



22 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

one party is the other's loss. It leads to subtlety and strife, 
and widens the chasm between men. Debt is a kind of specu- 
lation, a presumptuous going beyond law, and therefore against 
law, safe only to a miracle-worker greater than law. Doubt- 
less it is because of the specious form of this temptation in 
suretyship that Solomon so condemns it. The generosity 
which yields to it is too often unjust. From the lending of 
great names to lottery frauds, down to the commendation of 
patent medicines untasted and worthless books unread, men 
have thus made themselves hopeless debtors of the credulous 
people. There is no form of indebtedness more thoughtlessly 
incurred, and in the end more keenly resented as unjust, than 
suretyship. If the debtor can pay, why is a surety needed ? 
If the surety can pay, why does he not lend to the debtor ? If 
neither can pay, the creditor is defrauded at last. 

Tempted in whatever form, it is the step " beyond " which 
changes just dealing into debt, and plants the seed of the 
upas-tree. 

The step is irretrievable. It is going beyond his depth — his 
struggles help to drown him. Debt is an elastic band that 
tightens as it stretches. The want of the borrower measures 
the extortion of the lender. As deserts are rainless because 
they are so dry, so " the destruction of the poor is their pov- 
erty." Debt runs while men sleep as well as when they wake, 
and they cannot overtake it. The debtor Israelite soon parts 
with his inheritance. 

The downhill stride is swift. He is soon the bondsman of 
the creditor. It is the last plunge into despair, for not only 
the past, but the future is now sold ; the slave's earnings are 
not counted ; the possibility of restoration is cut off. 

This is the history of transgression. Debt turns to slavery. 
Seeking to add to his gains, the creditor loses himself ; reach- 
ing beyond the safe verge, he topples into the gulf. 

There is no hope of relief from ma?i. The enslaved debtor 
at length ceases to struggle with his chains, and resigns him- 
self to apathy and sullenness. The creditor grows fiercer with 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY. 23 

the taste of blood. The rugged mountains rise higher as the 
valleys deepen. The level " way " for " the people " seems 
less and less possible of realization. The tree will not lend its 
strength and height to the vine to lift it into sunlight, but 
rather uses its thick foliage to stifle it. Men's hands grow 
colder as they climb higher, and the care of great riches 
brings a perpetual frown ; so the poor are chilled, and creep 
away. The land of freedom, equality, and plenty has become 
a chaos, its families scattered, its freemen wearing the yoke, 
giants sucking the blood of dwarfs, and the bitter waters of 
poverty submerging the multitude. On the side of the op- 
pressor there was power ; but they had no comforter. 

Therefore comes the year of the Lord. The shrill voice of 
the trumpet rings throughout the land. It is a kingly signal. 
Startling as the shout of the royal herald or the flash of the 
scarlet robe, it tells that "the Lord is come," who "judgeth 
the poor with equity." No ma?i might interfere between 
creditor and debtor, but "the oppressed and the oppressor 
are his." "The land is mine," he declares; "ye are but so- 
journers;" "it shall not be sold forever;" "the people are my 
servants;" "they shall not be sold as bondsmen;" "proclaim 
liberty throughout all the land, to all the inhabitants thereof." 
At the word, the gathered estates of the extortioner dissolve, 
the hands of the oppressor loosen ; in clay-pit and forest and 
harvest-field the bondsman shakes off his shackles and looks 
up, and from every quarter " the redeemed of the Lord come 
with songs " back to their long-lost homes. 

It is a royal restoration. Whether the debt be large or 
small, the bondage long or short, there is no sordid calcula- 
tion ; every man is wholly free, and returns to his unbroken 
inheritance. 

It is not without significance that this happy hour comes on 
the great day of atonement. The cancelation of debt is no 
arbitrary, reasonless act. Debt is an offense against the law, 
and the law is just, therefore the people, " rich and poor, high 
and low together," are reminded in the tabernacle of Him to 



24 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

whom they alike owe all things; and recognizing their for- 
feited life in the substituted victim and scattered blood, and 
the certainty of purchased forgiveness in the welcome return 
of the high priest from the holy of holies, they are ready to 
yield to the justice of the demand that they should forgive as 
they have been forgiven. Justice and mercy alike attend the 
coming of " the acceptable year of the Lord." 

All this is a prophecy of Christ's coming and the 
world's year of grace. God taught the world " in divers 
parts," as we teach our children letters before words. Christ 
is " the Word," gathering these fragmentary truths of the Old 
Testament into himself, " the Truth." That the vision might 
be narrow and the outline distinct, the history of the world's 
bondage and deliverance was thus epitomized in a single land 
and nation. 

When Christ read these words in the synagogue at Naza- 
reth and declared their fulfilment, the world had fallen into 
disorder, as Palestine before the jubilee. Nations oppressed 
and oppressing one another, society broken into castes full of 
mutual hatred, the rich surfeited, the poor famished, the rab- 
ble clinging to idols, philosophers despising them, yet despair- 
ing of the truth, the earth " filled with thorns and briers," and 
the " whole creation groaning and travailing together." To 
such proportions, sweeping away the inheritance of the race 
and bringing them into bondage, grew the first debt of diso- 
bedience, the first transgression — " going beyond." The trick- 
ling rill has swollen to a roaring tide of blood — " sin, when it 
is finished, bringeth forth death." For a thousand years the 
" desire of all nations " had been awaited — some " Elias " who 
should "restore all things"; the Messiah of whom the Samar- 
itan woman said, " He will tell us all things." 

" In the fullness of time " Christ did come, the Redeemer 
and Deliverer, and from his coming even the world which re- 
jected him began to write "a.d." — "the year of our Lord;" 
not the year of the beginning of his power or love, but of his 
coming to us and more perfect manifestation. 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY. 25 

But the year of jubilee was for Israel only. Others dwelt in 
the land, but the silver trumpet left them unredeemed, their 
debt uncanceled. The mere progress of time can save no 
man. Generations are not born into Christianity ; the saints 
of the Old Testament were saved by the gospel, and sinners 
of the New Testament are lost under the law. All the figures 
of astronomy and the perfectness of its lenses cannot reveal 
the stars to me, except as the heavens are ensphered in my 
eye and repeated in its measures. So you, who have repeated 
in your experience the world's sad history, and by transgres- 
sion are " sold under sin," must also have a Bethlehem and 
Calvary in your heart, ere you can rejoice in this year as a 
" year of grace." It is useless to inquire what and how heavy 
is the debt you owe to God. What if it be beyond your 
power of computation ? The force of the blow does not 
always measure its destructiveness. The child's careless stroke 
may shatter the slender statue which genius has .patiently 
wrought. The thoughtlessness of the world does not measure 
the limits of wrong done or the price of reparation. It has 
blighted an innocent spirit, and robbed the world of a happy 
life. No lingering remorse, no studious tenderness henceforth 
can pay the debt. How, then, shall we measure the blow that 
mars that delicate and wonderful fabric, God's perfect law ! 
How, for example, comprehend the ruin wrought by a scald- 
ing oath dropped into the sensitive heart of a child ! 

It matters little whether the debt is great or small if pay- 
ment is hopeless. It is enough to know that, " made to have 
dominion " over God's works, you are a stranger in your in- 
heritance, and a "servant of servants," instead of a "prince 
of God." Yet your hopelessness is your only ground of hope, 
for the message of mercy is to the "poor," the "captive," the 
" bruised." " As many as received him, to them gave he 
power to become the sons of God." 

At length another trumpet will sound, whose shrill voice 
wakes the dead, announcing that " the year of his redeemed is 
come," and " the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come 



26 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads." 
The substance of the truth, which has cast so many shadows 
into the earth, will then be fully known, and "sorrow and sigh- 
ing shall flee away." 

Are you of Israel ? Is this year of grace a year of grace to 
you ? To the Christian as he writes " a.d." beside the num- 
bered years it is the King's token of remembrance that the 
" year of release " is soon to come. 

And to every man it is the King's seal, the still extended 
offer of a covenant of grace. Accept it, and "set to" your 
" seal that God is true." 



THE PROGRESS OF YEARS. 

A MOSAIC. 

Another year, with its record of joys and sorrows, sunshine 
and shadows, happiness and misery, and its good and evil, is 
now buried in the grave of the past. And it has not come 
and gone for naught, but has left its work behind it, and its 
impress upon the nineteenth century. This volume of the 
ledger of life is now closed, and laid away against the judg- 
ment of the last day. Its contents cannot be undone, though, 
alas ! many will be undone by what it contains. 

The birth of the new year is a good time for reflection as 
to whether the world is growing better or worse, and as to 
what we can do to make it better. Many good people, espe- 
cially old people, who see the bright side of the past and have 
forgotten the dark side, seem to believe that the world is 
growing much worse all the time. Well, the world is yet 
much too bad, but it is certainly better now than ever before. 
Statistics are generally dry, but I think we can make them of 
interest here. 

When the elder Dr. Dwight assumed the presidency of 
Yale College, in 1775, there was but one professing Christian 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY. 27 

among the students. In Harvard College it was no better. 
Skepticism and atheism were everywhere rampant, and infidel 
clubs in the colleges and among the people were a feature of 
the day. And what is the aspect of affairs now? Of the 300 
institutions in America called colleges and universities, 270 
are now supported by Christian churches, and of their 45,000 
students the churches teach all but 6000. These are instructed 
at the expense of the State. A majority of the students of 
old Harvard are from the evangelical churches. Then there 
was but 1 member of the church for every 1 5 of our popula- 
tion, and but 1 minister to every 2000 of the people. To-day 
there is 1 church-member to every 5 inhabitants, and 1 minis- 
ter to every 750 persons. It was the testimony of President 
Seelye, of Amherst College, that, notwithstanding our great 
foreign immigration, and our acquisition of Texas and Cali- 
fornia and New Mexico, the membership of our Protestant 
evangelical churches has increased, since 1800, two and a half 
times faster than the population. 

In conservative and cultured Boston the orthodox churches 
doubled their number in twenty years, between i860 and 
1880. But how has Christianity progressed in all the world, 
and since it began ? 

Three centuries after Christ there were 5,000,000 Chris- 
tians ; eight centuries after Christ, 30,000,000 ; ten centuries 
after Christ, 50,000,000; fifteen centuries after Christ, 100,- 
000,000 ; eighteen centuries after Christ, 174,000,000 ; eighteen 
and a half centuries after Christ, 440,000,000. 

The United States census of 1890 shows 20,618,307 church- 
members of all denominations, or something over one mem- 
ber to every three of the population ; and counting the regular 
and accelerating growth, and the great number of converts by 
the missions of the last half-century, it may not be doubted 
that the twentieth century will open upon 1,000,000,000 
church-members. 

It is true that these numbers are composed of Catholics, as 
well as all kinds of Protestants, but they demonstrate the fact 



28 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

that faith in Christ is rapidly spreading over the world as the 
centuries are counted off. 

But people are not only formally, but really, growing better. 
Not that the first ages did not produce thousands of as good 
men as the world will ever see, but there are more good peo- 
ple, and the general sentiment and life of mankind are better 
as the world grows older. This is seen : 

i. In the different nature of amusements and of the settle- 
ments of difficulties. Many of our modern theaters and other 
classes of amusements are very wicked, but they are not so 
bad as the cock and bull fights, and often the deadly encoun- 
ter of human beings, in the olden time. Men and nations do 
not so often settle difficulties by dueling and warfare as they 
formerly did, but, instead, resort to law and arbitration. And 
the time will come when men " shall beat their swords into 
plow-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks ; when nation 
shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn 
war any more." 

2. The character of the ministry is better now than it used 
to be. Many of our old preachers can remember when in our 
own country, as in England and other old countries to-day, it 
was not thought wrong for church officials and ministers to be 
"moderate drinkers." Now few preachers can drink and re- 
tain their places either in the churches or in the hearts of the 
people. 

3. Religious people were formerly more cruel than they now 
are. We need not go back to the barbarities of Rome or to 
the cruelties of the Inquisition, but to our own beloved coun- 
try in colonial days. The banishment of Roger Williams, the 
persecution of the Quakers and of supposed witches, tell us 
that times are not now as they used to be. Men are better 
now than they were in the long ago, and the times are better, 
and the world is moving in the right direction. 

The beginning of a new year is the time when new resolu- 
tions are generally formed ; but, alas ! these are much more 
easily made than kept. Still, fear of failing should not deter 



NEW-YEAR'S DA V. 29 

Us from renewing vows to do good, and also making new 
ones. We may try and fail, but we are much likelier to fail 
to try. We should not make extravagant promises to our- 
selves or to others, for the flesh is weak ; but we should lay 
out our work for the year and then do it. We have but one 
short life to live ; let us get as much in it and out of it as pos- 
sible. No rules can be laid down that will suit all, but prob- 
ably the following thoughts may indicate a line of duty and 
suggest much more that is needful : 

1. We should always do well the duty next to us. The 
way to prepare for a large work is to do a small one well. 
We must not neglect present duties and enjoyments. The 
present is our only time for doing. 

2. We should never trifle with conscience. If we have a 
doubt about a thing being right we would better let it alone. 
If we would be independent and manly we must retain our 
self-respect, and we cannot do this unless the conscience is at 
ease. 

3. We should appreciate our own homes and families, and 
not expend all our smiles and kind words upon others. The 
happiness and salvation of our own children should be worth 
more to us than the good of anybody else. 

4. We should make it a point to know that we have done 
some good or made somebody happy every day ; and no year 
should pass without our bringing some soul to Christ that other- 
wise might be lost. 

5. We should use our opportunities as they come, so that 
we may never know remorse. "He that knoweth to do good, 
and doeth it not, to him it is sin." 

6. If we fail in whole or in part in any or all of these things, 
let us come to Christ daily and humbly confess our sins and 
ask his forgiveness, and try again ; and we will continually 
grow stronger and better, and what we are unable to do at 
last we can lay upon him who has borne all our sorrows. 

Dear reader, we enter the new year walking by faith and 
not by sight. To many of us the realities of the past year 



30 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

seem stranger than the most extravagant fiction; and the 
present year is big with events yet to happen. Father, take 
our hands ! 

We shall certainly reach our last milestone, when the jour- 
ney of life will be completed, the volume of time be closed, 
and we shall take our places in the great hereafter. Oh, that 
we may be wise now ! 



GOD AMONG THE CENTURIES. 

BY T. DE WITT TALMAGE, D.D. 
Consider the years of many generations. — Deut. xxxii. 7. 

At twelve o'clock last night, while so many good people 
were watching, an old friend passed out of our homes, and a 
stranger entered. The old friend was garrulous with the oc- 
currences of many days, but the stranger put his finger over 
his lip and said nothing, and seemed charged with many se- 
crets and mysteries. I did not see either the departure or the 
arrival, but was sound asleep, thinking that was for me the 
best way to be wide-awake now. Good-by, old year! We 
welcome the new ! 

As an army is divided into brigades and regiments and 
companies, and they observe this order in their march, and 
their tread is majestic, so the time of the world's existence is 
divided into an army, divinely commanded ; the eras are the 
brigades, the centuries are the regiments, and the years are the 
companies. Forward ! into the eternity to come, out of the 
eternity past. Forward! is the command, and nothing can 
halt them, even though the world should die. While obeying 
my text, " Consider the years of many generations," I propose 
to speak of the chronology of the Bible, or God among the 
centuries. 

We make a distinction between time and eternity, but time 
is only a piece of eternity, and chronology has been engaged 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY. 3 1 

in the sublime work of dividing up this portion of eternity that 
we call time into compartments, and putting events in their 
right compartment. It is as much an injustice against the 
past to wrongly arrange its events as it would be an injustice 
if, through neglect of chronological accuracy, it should in the 
far-distant future be said that America was discovered in 1776, 
and the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1492, and 
Washington was born on the 2 2d of March, and the Civil War 
of the United States was fought in 1840. As God puts all the 
events of time in the right place, let us be careful that we do 
not put them in the wrong place. The chronology of the 
Bible takes six steps, but they are steps so long that it makes 
us hold our breath as we watch the movement : from Adam to 
Abraham ; from Abraham to the exodus out of Egypt ; from 
the exodus to the foundation of Solomon's temple ; from the 
foundation of Solomon's temple to the destruction of that 
temple ; from the destruction of the temple to the return from 
Babylonian captivity ; from Babylonian captivity to the birth 
of Christ. Chronology takes pen and pencil, and calling 
astronomy and history to help, says : " Let us fix up one event 
from which to calculate everything. Let it be a star, the 
Bethlehem star, the Christmas star." 

Chronology enters at another point and shows us that the 
seasons of the year were then only two — summer and winter. 
We find that the Bible year was 360 days instead of 365 ; that 
the day was calculated from six o'clock in the morning to six 
o'clock at night ; that the night was divided into four watches, 
namely, the late watch, the midnight, the cock-crowing, and 
the early watch. The clock and watch were invented so long 
after the world began their mission that the day was not very 
sharply divided in Bible times. Ahaz had a sun-dial, or a 
flight of stairs with a column at the top, and the shadow which 
that column threw on the steps beneath indicated the hour, 
the shadow lengthening or withdrawing from step to step. 
But the events of life and the events of the world moved 
so slowly for the most part in Bible times, that they had no 



32 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASIOX. 

need of such timepieces as we stand on our mantels or carry 
in our pockets in an age when a man may have a half-dozen or 
dozen engagements for one day, and needs to know the exact 
time for each one of them. The earth itself in Bible times 
was the chief timepiece, and it turned once on its axis, and 
that was a day, and once around the sun, and that was a 
year. It was not until the fourteenth century that the alma- 
nac was born, the almanac that we toss carelessly about, not 
realizing that it took the accumulated ingenuity of more than 
five thousand years to make one. Chronology had to bring 
into its service the monuments of Egypt and the cylinders 
of Assyria and the bricks of Babylon and the pottery of 
Nineveh and the medals struck at Antioch for the battle of 
Actium, and all the hieroglyphics that could be deciphered, 
and had to go into the extremely delicate business of asking 
the ages of Adam and Seth and Methuselah, who, after the 
three hundredth year, wanted to be thought young. 

It is something to thank God for that the modes are so 
complete for calculating the cycles, the centuries, the decades, 
the years, the months, the days, the hours, the seconds. Think 
of making appointments, as in the Bible days, for the time of 
the new moon! Think of making one of the watches of the 
night in Bible times a rooster's crowing! The Bible says: 
"Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice;" "If the 
master cometh at cock-crowing;" and that was the way the 
midnight watch was indicated. The crowing of the barn-yard 
bird has always been most uncertain. The crowing is at the 
lowest temperature of the night, and the amount of dew and 
the direction of the wind may bring the lowest temperature at 
eleven o'clock at night or two o'clock in the morning, or at 
any one of six hours. Just before a rain the crowing of chan- 
ticleer in the night is almost perpetual. 

Compare these modes of marking time with our modes of 
marking time, when twelve o'clock is twelve o'clock and six 
o'clock is six o'clock and ten o'clock is ten o'clock, and in- 
dependent of all weathers, and then thank God that you live 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY. 33 

now. But notwithstanding all the imperfect modes of mark- 
ing hours or years or centuries, Bible chronology never trips 
up, never falters, never contradicts itself; and here is one of 
the best arguments for the authenticity of the Scriptures. If 
you can prove an alibi in the courts, and you can prove be- 
yond doubt that you were in some particular place at the time 
you were charged with doing or saying something in quite an- 
other place, you can gain the victory ; and infidelity has tried 
to prove an alibi by contending that events and circumstances 
in the Bible ascribed to certain times must have taken place 
at some other time, if they took place at all. But this Book's 
chronology has never been caught at fault. 

This chronological study affords, among many practical 
thoughts, especially two — the one encouraging to the last de- 
gree and the other startling. The encouraging thought is that 
the main drift of the centuries has been toward betterment, 
with only here and there a stout reversal. Grecian civilization 
was a vast improvement on Egyptian civilization, and Roman 
civilization a vast improvement on Grecian civilization, and 
Christian civilization is a vast improvement on Roman civili- 
zation. What was the boasted age of Pericles compared with 
the age of Longfellow and Tennyson ? What was Queen 
Elizabeth as a specimen of moral womanhood compared with 
Queen Victoria ? What were the cruel warriors of olden 
times compared with the most distinguished warriors of the 
last half-century, all of them as much distinguished for kind- 
ness and good morals as for prowess — the two military leaders 
of our Civil War on Northern and Southern side communicant 
members of Christian churches, and their home life as pure as 
their public life ? Nothing impresses me in this chronological 
review more than the fact that the regiments of years are 
better and better regiments as the troops move on. I thank 
God that you and I were not born any sooner than we were 
born. How could we have endured the disaster of being 
born in the eighteenth or seventeenth or sixteenth century ? 
Glad am I that we are in the regiment now passing the re- 



34 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION". 

viewing-stand, and that our children will pass the stand in a 
still better regiment. God did not build this world for a 
slaughter-house or a den of infamy. A good deal of cleaning 
house will be necessary before the world becomes as clean and 
sweet as it ought to be, but the brooms and the scrubbing- 
brushes and the upholsterers and plumbers are already busy, 
and when the world gets fixed up as it will be, if Adam and 
Eve ever visit it — as I expect they will — they will say to each 
other, " Well, this beats Paradise when we lived there, and the 
pears and plums are better than we plucked from the first 
trees, and the wardrobes are more complete, and the climate 
is better." Since I settled in my own mind the fact that God 
was stronger than the devil I have never lost faith in the im- 
paradisation of this planet. 

But the other thought coming out of this subject is that 
biblical chronology, and, indeed, all chronology, is urging the 
world to more punctuality and immediateness. Chronology, 
beginning by appreciating the value of years and the value of 
days, has kept on until it cries out, " Man, immortal ; woman, 
immortal ; look out for that minute ; look out for that second! " 
We talk a great deal about the value of time, but will never 
fully appreciate its value until the last fragment of it has 
passed out of our possession forever. The greatest fraud a 
man can commit is to rob another of his time. Hear it, ye 
laggards, and repent ! All the fingers of chronology point to 
punctuality as one of the graces. The minister or the lecturer 
or business man who comes to his place ten minutes after the 
appointed time commits a crime the enormity of which can 
only be estimated by multiplying the number of persons pres- 
ent by ten. If the engagement be made with five persons he 
has stolen fifty minutes, for he is ten minutes too late, and he 
has robbed each of the five persons of ten minutes apiece, and 
ten times five are fifty. If there are five hundred persons 
present, and he be ten minutes too late, he has committed a 
robbery of five thousand minutes, for ten times five hundred 
are five thousand, and five thousand minutes are eighty-three 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY. 35 

hours, which makes more than three days. The thief of dry- 
goods, the thief of bank-bills, is not half so bad as the thief 
of time. Dr. Rush, the greatest and busiest physician of his 
day, appreciated the value of time, and when asked how he 
had been able to gather so much information for his books 
and lectures he replied, " I have been able to do it by econo- 
mizing my time. I have not spent one hour in amusement in 
thirty years." And taking a blank-book from his pocket, he 
said, " I fill a book like this every week with thoughts that 
occur to me and facts collected in the rooms of my patients." 
Napoleon appreciated the value of time when the sun was 
sinking upon Waterloo, and he thought that a little more time 
would retrieve his fortunes, and he pointed to the sinking sun 
and said, " What would I not give to be this day possessor of 
the power of Joshua, and enabled to retard thy march for two 
hours ! " The good old woman appreciated the value of time 
when at ninety-three years of age she said, " The Judge of all 
the earth does not mean that I shall have any excuse for not 
being prepared to meet him." Voltaire, the blatant infidel, 
appreciated the value of time when, in his dying-moments, he 
said to his doctor, " I will give you half of what I am worth if 
you will give me six months of life;" and when told that he 
could not live six weeks he burst into tears, and said, " Then 
I shall go to hell." John Wesley appreciated the value of 
time when he stood on his steps waiting the delayed carriage 
to take him to an appointment, saying, " I have lost ten min- 
utes forever." Lord Nelson appreciated the value of time 
when he said, " I owe everything in the world to being al- 
ways a quarter of an hour beforehand." A clock-maker in 
one of the old English towns appreciated the value of time 
when he put on the front of the town clock the words, "Now 
or when ? " Mitchell the astronomer appreciated the value 
of time when he said, " I have been in the habit of calculat- 
ing the value of a thousandth part of a second." They best 
appreciate the value of time whose Sabbaths have been wasted, 
and whose opportunities of repentance and usefulness are all 



36 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASIOX. 

gone, and who have nothing left but memories, baleful ele- 
giac. They stand in the bleak September, with bare feet, on 
the sharp stubble of a reaped wheat-field, crying, " The har- 
vest is past;" and the sough of an autumnal equinox moans 
forth in echo, "The harvest is past." 

But do not let us get an impression from chronology that 
because the years of time have been so long in procession they 
are to go on forever. Matter is not eternal. No, no. If you 
watch half a day or a whole day or two days, as I once did, to 
see a military procession, you remember that the last brigade 
and the last regiment and the last company finally passed on, 
and as we rose to go we said to each other, "It is all over." 
So this mighty procession of earthly years will terminate — just 
when, I have no power to prognosticate ; but science confirms 
the Bible prophecy that the earth cannot always last. In- 
deed, there has been a fatality of worlds. The moon is merely 
the corpse of what it once was, and scientists have again and 
again gone up in their observatories to attend the death-bed 
of dying worlds, and have seen them cremated. So I am 
certain, both from the Word of God and science, that the 
world's chronology will sooner or later come to its last chap- 
ter. The final century will arrive and pass on, and then will 
come the final decade, and then the final year and the final 
month and the final day. The last spring will swing its censer 
of apple-blossoms, and the last winter bank its snows. The 
last comet will burn like Moscow, and the last morning radi- 
ate the hills. The clocks will strike their last hour, and the 
watches will tick their last second. 

No incendiaries will be needed to run hither and yon with 
torches to set the world on fire. Chemistry teaches us that 
there is a very inflammable element in water. While oxygen 
makes up a part of the water, the other part of the water is 
hydrogen, and that is very combustible. The oxygen drawn 
out from the water, the inflammable hydrogen may put in- 
stantly into conflagration the Hudsons and Savannahs and 
Mississippis and Rhines and Urals and Danubes, and Atlantic 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY. 37 

and Pacific and Indian and Mediterranean seas. And then 
the Angel of God, descending from the throne, might put one 
foot in the surf of the sea and the other on the beach, and 
cry to the four winds of heaven, " Time was, but time shall be 
no longer ! " Yet, found in Christ, and pardoned and sancti- 
fied, we shall welcome the day with more gladness than you 
ever welcomed a Christmas or New- Year's morn. 

When wrapt in fire, the realms of ether glow, 
And heaven's last thunder shakes the earth below, 
Thou, undismayed, shalt o'er the ruin smile, 
And light thy torch at nature's funeral pile. 



ANOTHER YEAR OF TIME. 

CHARLES A. STODDARD, D.D. 

Time was, is past, thou canst not it recall ; 
Time is, thou hast, improve the portion small; 
Time future is not and may never be ; 
Time present is the only time for thee. 

Can you hear the wings of Time as he speeds upon his 
rapid flight ? Go aside from this noisy scene of life and listen 
for the bird of passage. Life is full of bustling activity, full of 
sounding deeds which reverberate through the world. Time, 
that swallows up these echoes, " glides soundless as a shadow." 
In the revolving series of days and months and years there 
come some seasons so marked and celebrated that we seem to 
hear a call to ponder and reflect upon the steady flow of time. 
If these seasons come with frequency we become careless of 
their monitions, and their voice grows less and less distinct. 
But if the interval which elapses between their recurrence is 
long their warning breaks more plainly on the ear and utters 
its impressive words directly to the heart. 

A year is passing away. The bells which chimed its advent 
are soon to toll its requiem, in tones deep, full, and sad. In 



38 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

solemn silence we should pause, and while their mournful 
tongue declares the departure of the longest separate period 
in our existence, ponder upon the flying series of days and 
years which constitute our life, and determine wisely to use 
the moments which we still call our own. 

Men pass their time in different ways, but, alas! how many 
of these ways are foolish and unprofitable ! Time is to some 
a weight, a weariness; they are perplexed how to dispose of 
it, and would fain live oblivious of its passage. Some try, in 
common phrase, to "kill time," by spending it in sloth and 
vicious pleasure ; others seek excitement, and burden them- 
selves with heavy labors and anxious cares, that they may thus 
muffle the wheels of time, which are ever rolling them onward 
to eternity. Eternity is to them a thought of awful omen; 
they dread to have it enter into their minds and come un- 
bidden into their meditations ; they would fain quench the 
thoughts of the future, and those evidences of immortality 
which any serious consideration of time, and the purpose for 
which it was given, kindles within them. They strive to 
bound their horizon by the clouds and darkness of this life, to 
forget that there is any other world than this; they spend 
their time as if its days and years were secured to them for 
unending life on earth. 

But "time is short." How common the remark! How 
universally is its warning disregarded ! To a reflecting mind 
there is a solemn meaning in these three little words. Their 
echo, oft repeated, awakes thought and inspires action. One 
who is thus awakened reviews the past, not for the amusement 
of an idle hour, but to learn wisely to use the present, which 
alone is his. Within these years gone by what varied events 
have occurred to us and to our friends, to our country and 
the world ! The smiles of friends have beamed upon our life, 
and mutual prosperity has made us glad ; or tears have fur- 
rowed our cheeks, and the shadows of death have darkened 
our pathway. Nations have joined their gathered hosts in 
fierce encounter, and battles lost and won have swelled the 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY. 39 

blood-stained records of humanity. Cities have been founded 
and destroyed ; commerce and the arts have made wonderful 
progress, or financial disaster has paralyzed industry, and pes- 
tilence has wasted mankind. 

Of all these varied changes we have been witnesses, in some 
of them we have played a part, and yet how brief the period 
in which they all occurred appears in the retrospect! They 
all seem unreal and phantom-like ; as the " baseless fabric of 
a vision " they have passed away. We may even extend our 
survey of the past ; following the clue of history, we may 
thread the mazes of the earlier ages, and standing on the 
threshold of human existence trace the progress of the race 
through the centuries to our own era. At the close of such a 
review we feel as if we had been viewing but the passing 
pageant of an hour. 

Our lips confess involuntarily that time is short, but where 
is the response within the heart ? How will the vision influ- 
ence the actions of to-morrow ? Will it secure more careful 
preparation for the future ? Shall we use it more wisely ? 
Alas! we gain no lasting lesson from the retrospect. 

Time in review seems short, in prospect long, and man is 
prone to look forward rather than behind him in this life. 
Perhaps in another life the lost may be condemned to brood 
forevermore upon the past and know nothing of a future or of 
hope. But here hope bends its rainbow round the coming 
days, and we turn gladly from the mournful, short-lived past 
of time to say, "To-morrow is long, another year is longer; 
there is time enough remaining for pleasure and for prepara- 
tion too." To-morrow's sun will sink in night, and we shall 
note again the brevity of time* The snows of winter will en- 
shroud another dying year, and we shall murmur, "Time is 
short." 

Not till that last day, the day that closes our mortal exis- 
tence, shall we fully understand the brevity of time. Yet 
time is our life ; its passage is our death. The moment we 
began to live, that moment we began to die. We forget too 



40 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

often that the departure of time means the departure of our 
life. When the warm blood flows full and strong through all 
the swelling veins, and full-robed joy animates body and 
mind ; when in the series of our days and years there occurs 
no startling circumstance to arrest our notice or awake our 
thought, we forget that we are not moored, but are ever glid- 
ing, though we notice not our motion, down the stream of 
time. Again, when excitement possesses us, or mad pleasure 
inflames our passions and bewilders our senses, we dash down 
the stream, and days and weeks, and it may be years, the 
landmarks on the banks, are passed unheeded. 

If we heed not Time, still less does Time take note of us ; 
calm, steady, and voiceless, blind to our follies, deaf to all our 
prayers, he moves with even and resistless tread toward his 
own doom and ours; toward our day of death, and to that 
great epoch when the mighty angel, with his right foot upon 
the sea and his left foot upon the earth, shall lift up his hand 
" and swear by him that liveth for ever and ever . . . that 
there shall be time no longer." 

Almighty power alone can stay the passage of time or of 
life. The shadow has returned upon the dial-plate but once 
in the world's history, and then by the direct command of 
God ; the arm of death has been palsied only to reveal the 
greater power of Him who triumphs over death and brings an 
immortality to light. 

Reflections such as these should make us more jealous of 
the passing moments, more watchful of ourselves, more care- 
ful of what we allow to engross our time. We should regard 
it as a Saviour's gift to man to be employed in his service. 
God never lays more social or public duties upon any one 
than are consistent with a supreme devotion to the interests 
of eternity and the welfare of the soul. God allows space for 
every temporal duty, time for every lawful recreation, and it 
is wisdom to restrict these duties and pleasures so that they 
infringe not upon the sacred hours allotted to prayer and wor- 
ship, while it is foolish and profane to say that earthly duties 



NEW-YEAR* S DAY. 41 

prevent us from attending to eternal things. Be sure that 
anything which, under the name or guise of duty, hinders 
from considering or preparing for a future state is not duty, 
but delusion. We should erase it from the roll of duties, and 
spend the hours which it engrosses in things which bear upon 
another life. Let us no longer spend time in trifles when im- 
mortal life is at stake, for time is short and eternity is long. 



REFLECTIONS ON THE NEW YEAR. 

BISHOP MATTHEW SIMPSON. 

There are some reflections which may be profitable in be- 
ginning the duties of the new year. First, we ought to feel 
our dependence on God; not on man, not on the best-laid 
plans. We should confess that we are in the hands of God. 
If he uphold us, if he encircle us, oh, how safe ! If we can 
lie on his bosom as a child on the bosom of its mother, how 
sweet shall be our rest ! A ray from heaven always shines 
upon the path which is placed directly under the guidance of 
God. Tell me of difficulties and trials ; I know something of 
them. But this I have learned, that in all ages the men who 
have done right have been successful. 

If this be a happy new year, a year of usefulness, a year in 
which we shall live to make this earth better, it is because 
God will direct our pathway. How important, then, to feel 
our dependence upon him ! 

We are children ; God is our Father. We are more de- 
pendent on God than is any son upon his father; and if so, 
should we not bend to him in prayer ? Should we not ask 
what God wills us to do, and humbly and suppliantly, before 
his throne, pray that light may shine on our paths and that 
grace may distil into our hearts ? Tell me not it is unmanly 
to pray ; tell me not it indicates a lack of self-reliance to in- 
voke divine aid. Unmanly to pray ! Is it unmanly for a 
son to ask counsel of his father ? 



42 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Young man, young woman, he sends you into society to be 
as a light. " Ye are the light of the world," to shine among 
the stars which have preceded you ; and you have your mis- 
sion, which no one can take from you. You are not here for 
a moment, but for eternity; your times are in God's hand. 
He leads you as much as if you saw the divine arm encircling 
you. He directs your pathway as fully as though he sent his 
angel to show you every step you should take. 

We can succeed only when we work in harmony with God's 
providences. Give yourself to that stream. It is easy to 
float down with the current which God has made to run from 
the mountain-top to the great ocean ; but let us reverse our 
course, and stem the current — then only shall we know its 
strength. The strongest arm is powerless before it, and the 
utmost effort impotent. So with us : we shall succeed if we 
work in harmony with God's plans ; if we work in opposition 
we shall be vainly striving against him. 

Read the design of God in all the afflictions of earth. 
Does he take a dear one away ? Ah ! there is gloom in the 
household. But there is light above; and sometimes the 
thought of the dear one seems like opening a door in heaven 
to give brighter light than we ever saw before. The thought 
of friends in glory makes heaven sweeter than ever to us. 
Are there disasters in business, and is property swept away ? 
It may be to show us the riches in heaven that earth's destroy- 
ers cannot reach; that we should feel more dependent, be 
more trustful. It was good for the psalmist that he was 
afflicted, and it may be good for us. 

Let me, then, give myself to work just where God designs 
me to be : let it be in the colliery, all well ; in the forest, all 
well ; or let it be in the city, in professional life. Place me 
just where God wills me to be placed, to do just what he wills 
that I should do, and small as I am, not the angel Gabriel 
could fill my place in the great picture which God is working 
out. If I take this conception into my heart, how sublime 
becomes my mission in life 1 I am not here without an ob- 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY. 43 

ject ; I am not here without a home. I am not here for to- 
day, then to lie down and be buried beneath the clods of the 
earth ; I am here for all eternity, here not only to be read and 
known of men, but to be read and known throughout the 
ages. I am here because God has sent me to do a work that 
no other being could do but myself. Had there not been 
room for me, God had not made me. Had I not been 
needed in America God had not placed me in America. Had 
I not work in the nineteenth century I had not been born. 
Were there not room for my intellect and arm God had not 
given them to me. I have a place, am sent of God on a mis- 
sion; and if I perform it God will acknowledge that I have 
done his will, and will some day say, even to one so worth- 
less as myself, "Well done, good and faithful servant: enter 
thou into the joy of thy Lord." 

Is it unmanly to ask of Him who holds all agencies in his 
hand, to use according to the counsel of his own will ? It is 
manly to pray, it is wise to pray ; and we should be in the 
attitude of prayer in the beginning of this year. We should 
pray that God may direct our steps through all the days and 
weeks. The whole future may be dependent upon the few 
hours before us. We may take some step which will change 
the course of our lives. Is it not wise to ask God for direc- 
tion ? He alone sees the end from the beginning. He alone 
sees the infinite connections of events. 



A NEW-YEAR'S ADDRESS 

REV. CHARLES GARRETT. 

Charles Lamb has said that the man must be a very bad 
man, or a very ignorant one, who does not make a good 
resolution on New- Year's day ; and believing that my readers 
are neither one nor the other, I want to show them the im- 
portance of their resolving to be abstainers, not only for their 



44 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

own sakes, but especially for the sake of those around them, 
I want them to listen to the voice of the children, who are 
crying to them, in tones that it would be criminal to disregard, 
" Take the safest path, for we are following you." 

During one of my holidays in North Wales I was staying 
with my family near a range of hills to which I was strangely 
attracted. Some of them were slanting and easy to climb, 
and my children rejoiced to accompany me to their summit. 
One, however, was higher than the others, and its sides were 
steep and rugged. I often looked at it with a longing desire to 
reach the top. The constant companionship of my children, 
however, was a difficulty. Several of them were very young, 
and I knew it would be full of peril for them to attempt the 
ascent. One bright morning, when I thought they were busy 
with their games, I started on my expedition. I quietly made 
my way up the face of the hill till I came to a point where 
the path forked, one path striking directly upward, and the 
other ascending in a slanting direction. I hesitated for a 
moment as to which of the two paths I should take, and was 
about to take the precipitous one when I was startled by hear- 
ing a little voice shouting, " Father, take the safest path, for 
I am following you." On looking down I saw that my little 
boy had discovered my absence and followed me. He was 
already a considerable distance up the hill, and had found the 
ascent difficult, and when he saw me hesitating as to which of 
the paths I should take he revealed himself by the warning 
cry. I saw at a glance that he was in peril at the point he 
had reached, and trembled lest his little feet should slip before 
I could get to him. I therefore cheered him by calling to 
him that I would come and help him directly. I was soon 
down to him, and grasped his little warm hand with a joy that 
every father will understand. I saw that in attempting to 
follow my example he had incurred fearful danger, and I 
descended, thanking God that I had stopped in time to save 
my child from injury and death. 

Years have passed since that, to me, memorable morning; 



NEW-YEAR* S DAY. 45 

but though the danger has passed the little fellow's cry has 
never left me. It taught me a lesson the full force of which 
I had never known before. It showed me the power of our 
unconscious influence, and I saw the terrible possibility of our 
leading those around us to ruin without intending or knowing 
it ; and the lesson I learned that morning I am anxious to im- 
press upon those to whom my words may come. 

The Apostle Paul tells us that " no man liveth to himself," 
and this solemn truth we should ever bear in mind. Those 
around us are, without an effort on their part or ours, con- 
stantly being molded and shaped by our example. Hence, in 
spite of ourselves, we a7-e our brother's keeper ; we lift him up 
into purity and light, or we can drag him down into darkness 
and despair. This is especially true of the children around us. 
With these our influence is a moral atmosphere, affecting 
them far more than we imagine. Children are like the sensi- 
tive plates of the photographer, and our every look and action 
produces its effect. They are also natural imitators, and our 
lives are reproduced in theirs. The child of the minister will 
form his little pulpit, summon his congregation, and deliver 
his discourse ; the child of the smoker will be seen with his 
mimic pipe going through the same performances as the 
father; while the child of the drinker will eagerly watch for 
the opportunity to drain the glass from which his father has 
been drinking. Their bright, sharp eyes watch our every 
motion, in the family, at the hearth, and round the table ; and 
though we are conscious of exerting no influence upon them 
our every act and tone sinks into their plastic nature and 
molds their character forever. If the influence is for evil no 
heavenly discipline can entirely remove it ; and if it is for good 
no bad associations can entirely effect its destruction. 

Two paths are open before us on this blessed New- Year's 
day. We have the terrible power of choice. We cannot 
move without affecting others. The children, in their inno- 
cence and weakness, are following us, " though with unequal 
step," and are crying to us, " Take the safest path, for we are 



46 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

following you." Your head may be so steady and your foot 
so firm that you may tread the dangerous path without falling. 
But what of the children who are following you ? Can you 
guarantee that their heads will be as steady and their feet as 
firm as yours ? We are responsible to God for our example, 
and in the great day we must meet the results of even our 
unconscious influence. I am personally prepared to meet the 
results of my total abstinence, but I dare not meet the results 
of my drinking, however moderately. Dare you? In the 
decision to which you come to-day take in the whole case. If 
you drink you may gratify habit, appetite, and custom ; you 
may produce a momentary flow of animal spirits, and even 
fancy that you derive a little physical advantage. If, on the 
contrary, you resolve to abstain, you avoid the " appearance of 
evil " ; you will pursue a course of self-denial ; your example 
will be one that all can safely imitate. 

Dr. Lyman Beecher has well said: "It is not enough to 
erect the flag ahead to mark the spot where the drunkard dies. 
It must be planted at the entrance of the course, proclaiming 
in waving, This is the way to death ! If we cannot stop men 
at the beginning we cannot separate between that and the 
end. He that lets strong drink alone is safe, and only he." 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY MEDITATION. 

DR. A. THOLUCK. 

Let others quail at the milestones which stand by the way- 
side, and tell the passing pilgrim how small a portion of his 
journey is still before him compared with that which lies be- 
hind. For my part, I can behold them without dismay — nay, 
I hail them, as I pass, with joy. To me such a milestone is 
every New-Year's day. My looks are all the oftener directed 
homeward, and my pace quickens. Does it not even wing the 
feet of the fainting traveler to behold the towers of his native 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY. 47 

city rising above the mist and appearing every moment more 
and more brightly to the view ? 

No doubt we must be sure about the place to which the 
way is conducting us. He who has found upon earth the city 
of his affections, and who with every onward step is only ad- 
vancing toward a mist, may well look upon New- Year's day 
as a day of sorrow. Well may it be a dark and gloomy day 
to the man who, as a poor and humble pilgrim, is journeying 
to some royal city where he has not a single friend to welcome 
his arrival or offer him the shelter of a roof. A poor and 
humble pilgrim am I ; but, God be thanked ! I know of One 
who long ago prepared for me a place. Hence it is that as 
I pass the milestones each in succession becomes an altar, on 
which I present oblations of gratitude and praise. There are 
many, I am aware, to whom the thought of the flight of time 
is dispiriting. For me, I feel that He hath not given the spirit 
of fear, but of power. 

Whoe'er has washed his sins and guilt 

In Jesus' blood away, 
And to him cleaves, like loving child, 

Still closer day by day, 
With spirit undismayed will meet 

The lowering future's wrath ; 
Though floods may fall and tempests beat, 

He keeps his homeward path. 



WHAT WILL THE NEW YEAR BRING? 

If we could answer that question the dawn of each year 
might not appear to us "a happy New Year." Wisely and 
kindly does our Father shield our eyes from a sight of future 
days. The coming joys might dazzle us and turn us aside 
from present duties ; or the griefs that lie along the way might 
utterly unnerve and dishearten us. To see but a step before 
us, and trust implicitly the wisdom and love of God for all 



48 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

that we cannot see, is far better than to know the end from 
the beginning. One thing we are sure the new year will 
bring : it will bring to us day by day the unerring, loving, 
brooding care of God. 

We know from the past what the future will be in this 
respect. Looking back, we say, " Surely goodness and mercy 
have followed me ;" and our trustful hearts exclaim, " Yes, and 
shall follow me all the days of my life." Aye, not only follow, 
but lead and guide on every side. So, whatever comes, let us 
"know a.7id believe the Love" We can walk courageously 
when Love goes with us ; we can bear disappointment when 
Love has the management of our affairs ; we can endure pain 
when Love soothes us and says, " It is but for a moment ; " 
we can stand before the iron doors of great mysteries without 
fear when we know Love holds the key. 

O thou unknown new year, before whose portals we stand 
blind and deaf to all thou mayest have in store for us, we 
cross thy threshold with undaunted step, for we are "per- 
suaded that neither death, nor life, . . . nor things present, 
nor things to come, . . . shall be able to separate us from the 
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

My heart shrinks back from trials 

Which the future may disclose, 
Yet I never had a sorrow 

But as the dear Lord chose ; 
So I press the coming tears back 

With the whispered word, " He knows." 

Christian Advocate. 



NEW-YEAR'S LONGINGS. 

Is it peace or is it imrest that gives zest to the coming of a 
New-Year's morning ? Is it because we are contented with 
our present condition, or because we reach out after a better 
state of being, that we hail with gladness a new beginning in 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY. 49 

time's changes ? Is it because we are satisfied with our exist- 
ing plane of life and endeavor, or because we look forward 
with longing hope to a possible nobler attaining on a loftier 
plane of existence, that we rejoice in the thought that an old 
year has ended and a new year has begun ? 

If, indeed, we were satisfied with what we are, and what we 
have, and what we have been doing, there would be to us sad- 
ness rather than gladness in our passing on from the present 
period of life to an unknown future ; and the end of the old 
year would bring a sense of loss, in that its privileges and 
possessions must now be a memory instead of an existing de- 
light. But just in proportion as we are not contented with 
our sphere, nor satisfied with ourselves, do we reach out long- 
ingly to a better sphere and a worthier course of life ; and 
therefore it is that, to so many of us, the end of an old year 
brings a sense of relief, in that its shortcomings and failures 
are now to be left behind, while the approach of a new year 
suggests a hope of something different and better beyond, in 
the path we are treading. 

A young Christian being asked, at the close of an old year, 
if she intended to be present at the sunrise prayer-meeting of 
her church on the mcrning of the new year, answered, heart- 
ily, "Why, of course I shall be there. I don't want to be 
without the one comfort of making my new resolve at that 
meeting, even if nothing more ever comes of it." And she 
was right so far. A good resolve that is never more than a 
resolve is better than that deadness of heart which lacks even 
a longing for a better mode of living. With our lives as they 
are, and our plane of living as it has been, it is well that we 
are restless and unsatisfied, and that we long, even though 
spasmodically and with feebleness, to take an utterly new start 
on another and a higher "lane of living and being. 

Sunday-school Times. 



5© THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 



THE NEW YEAR. 

When we were children we all had a firm belief in the pos- 
sibility of literally " turning over a new leaf " ; and on the 
evening of the 31st of December we went to sleep with a pe- 
culiarly satisfied feeling that the old year was entirely finished, 
its record all closed ; and that to-morrow the new year was to 
come, the glad new year, holding in its hands all joys and 
pleasures. And then, on the morrow, how easy it was to be 
good ! How far away was the old self — gone into the irre- 
claimable past with the old year! But in time — was it within 
twenty-four or thirty-six hours? — we learned the sad lesson 
that the old self was easier brought back than the old year ; 
the latter was dead indeed, the former was a very lively 
reality. 

Ah well! we have gone on so far from those childish days 
that we can afford to smile at their fancies. Slowly we have 
been taught, by all the bitter lessons of the years that stretch 
between the then and the now, that no new year brings with 
it a new self; that at no time during our existence has the 
future been a clean, white page on which we might write what 
we would. And sometimes we wonder if, since God deter- 
mined so much of our lives by inheritance and environment, 
he has left any part to be determined by us. 

And as we sit. by our fireside and watch the old year die 
out from the present and become of the past ; as we review 
its course, and weep over its sorrows, and yearn for one more 
taste of its joys ; as we turn back the veil from the face of 
the precious dead memories we keep buried in our hearts, and 
feel that we would gladly give the best that the new year can 
bring if only we could live again one day or week of the dear 
old year — as we think of these things, what wonder is it that 
we dread to meet the new year, with our hearts saddened and 
our courage weakened by the experiences of the year that is 
dying ? And as we ponder on the past, which has, on the 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY. 51 

whole, proved more of a friend than a foe, and on the future, 
so unknown, so untried — hark ! the bells ring out in the quiet 
darkness. The old year is dead, the new year is born. Hum- 
bly, fearfully, we sink on our knees, and slowly, in answer to 
our prayers, comes back something of the old faith of our 
childhood, and we rejoice that we are granted one more New- 
Year's day on which to " begin again " — not in our childish 
way, with utter disregard of the past, but trustingly, patiently, 
knowing that we must ever carry with us our past, and re- 
joicing that, with God's help, we may make the future better 
because of the past. Then, as we rise from our knees, wc 
look bravely forward to the veiled figure that stands at our 
threshold ; we know nothing of what it brings, we know only 
that it is God's new year. May he bless it to us all ! 

E. D. H., in the Golden Rule. 



THE MILESTONES OF LIFE. 

New- Year's, in its design, should not be simply retrospec- 
tive, but peculiarly prospective. Upon this day we should 
reach forward in purpose unto those things that are before, 
that are high, exalted, and noble, and toward them press. 
These cycles that begin and end with New-Year's, termed 
years, are the unit measures of our lives. Threescore and ten 
of them are the measure of our days. How important it is 
that at the beginning of each we stop and think, to resolve on 
a better life, and at once begin so to live! " So teach us to 
number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom," 
is an apt prayer for this day. What can be more worthy to 
a heart than to apply itself unto wisdom, to that wisdom the 
beginning of which is the fear of the Lord? This may be 
our last year. Are we ready? How many stood upon the 
threshold of the year just past with hopes as high as ours are 
to-day, but to-day they are numbered with the dead! How 
many of our acquaintances have during the year been removed 



52 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

by death! To-day not a few families are steeped in bereave- 
ment's sorrow. Very many are in mourning. To how many 
might it be said to-day, "This year thou shalt die "! It may 
be to you, dear reader. It may be to me. How important 
that we set our house in order! Ere long it may be said to 
us, " The Master calleth for thee ! " Have we made our 
peace with God ? We know not what is before us. We 
know not what a day may bring forth. " Be ye also ready :" 
" for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son 
of man cometh." 

J. F. S.. in the Lutheran. 



MAKE THE NEW YEAR A HAPPY ONE. 

Every one of our actions finds its reflection in the life of 
some one else. No matter how humble may be our surround- 
ings, we have an influence on some other life. Individual 
good cheer means general happiness. If we are bright we 
brighten our neighbor; the neighbor is an emissary to the 
community, and the community, in turn, to the great world at 
large. 

Thus in the year before us we have it pretty much in our 
own hands. National advantages are ours; we need only 
supply the individual elements. The past is valuable only for 
the lessons it can teach ; the present for its opportunities ; the 
future for its possibilities. Whatever the past year may have 
meant to you, make it dead history. But let the new year be 
a living issue. With a big, fresh sponge, dripping with the 
clear water of forgiveness, wipe clean the slate of your heart. 
Enter the year with a kind thought for every one. You need 
not kiss the hand that smote you, but grasp it in cordial good 
feeling, and let the electricity of your own resolves find its 
connecting current — which very often exists where we think it 
not. An ill-natured thought often makes us unhappier than 
the person to whom it is directed. A happy mind is an elixir ; 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY. 53 

and as are the spirits of the wife in the home so will be those 
of the husband, who in turn will carry them into the outer 
world. Domestic happiness often colors commercial prosper- 
ity. The hearthstone is the corner of the counting-room. An 
unhappy wife makes a blue merchant. As we men live at 
home so we work in the outer world. 

Therefore, to the thousands, yea, I may say the million and 
more of women to whom I speak with these words, let me 
say : Make the new year a happy one in your home ; be bright 
of disposition ; carry your cares easy ; let your heart be as 
sunshine, and your life will give warmth to all around you. 
And thus will you and yours be happy. 

Ladies' Home Journal. 

THE OUTLOOK FOR THE NEW YEAR. 

REV. H. C. JENNINGS. 

The new year is always a time of seriousness to all but the 
most thoughtless. We smile sometimes at New-Year's resolu- 
tions, but they are the result of stopping to think on the part 
of those who need to make them. It is no wonder that the 
careless are brought to resolve upon better lives, because no 
one can think upon the meaning of the swiftly flying years 
and not be sobered. To the Christian the outlook upon the 
new year should be an outlook upon a new kingdom to be 
conquered, a new year of opportunity and growth. 

The Scripture references which stand at the end of this 
article teach us some things which we shall do well to think 
upon : that it is possible to live fruitful lives ; that there is 
promise of a harvest to those who will work, and a great 
Father to care for all our need ; that we should meet the de- 
mand of these times for wisdom by growing in wisdom of 
word and deed ; that long life is promised to the obedient ; 
that the time to love and serve God is now in our youth. If 
we will put these thoughts into our outlook, with a prayer that 



54 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASIOX. 

we may come to know all this truth, our vision will be won- 
derfully widened. 

If we should spend our time in looking backward the best 
of us would be disheartened. We cannot bring back our 
past. We can only ask forgiveness for neglect, and remember 
that we are to " look out and not in, forward and not back." 

We shall need, as young people, to exercise much personal 
discipline. We should carefully save our minutes, and deter- 
mine to make the new year add greatly to our stock of know- 
ledge. God wants us to be wise, and we can be. 

Let us study the Bible. There are plenty of helps. The 
old fashion of reading it through by course is a good one. 
An old man said to the writer recently, " We are reading the 
Bible through by course for the twenty-third time at family 
prayers." Blessed family altar, so faithfully conducted ! And 
how that old man can quote Scripture! 

Bring your will into service. Concerning all matters of 
duty have four articles of faith: I am, I can, I ought, I will. 

In the old Book of Chronicles it was said of the tribe of 
Zebulon that they were good soldiers because they "could 
keep rank, and were not of a double heart." Doing our part, 
working in harmony with others, with a single heart, desiring 
only to please God, will make our year full of blessing. 

Let us light the fires of devotion along the whole line of 
battle. 

References: Luke xiii. 6; Ps. lxv. II ; James iv. 13; Job vi. 22; xxxii. 
7; Ps. xc. 4; Prov. iv. 10; Eccl. xii. 1. 



THOUGHTS PERTINENT TO THE NEW YEAR. 

The Past Year and its Lessons (Eccl. iii. 15). — The 
past, whatever its hue and character, whatever its indiscre- 
tions and follies, we must answer for. " God requireth that 
which is past." (1) God requires a recollection of the 
mercies that are past, mercies undeserved, unexpected, "all 
his benefits;" (2) God requires an account of the means of 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY. 55 

improvement which have been afforded — your remembrance 
of these and your experiences ; (3) God requires that, if there 
be room for improvement, reformation shall be commenced 
immediately. God pleads for a full and final surrender of 
heart to him. rev. w. g. barret. 

What is time ? The shadow on the dial, the striking of 
the clock, the running of the sand ; day and night, summer and 
winter, months, years, centuries — these are but arbitrary and 
outward signs, the measure of time, but not time itself. Time 
is the life of the soul ; if not this, then tell me what is time ? 

H. W. LONGFELLOW. 

Time is but a stream I go a-fishing in. I drink at it ; but 
while I drink I see the sandy bottom, and detect how shallow 
it is. Its thin current slides away, but eternity remains. I 
would drink deeper, fish in the sky, whose bottom is pebbly 
with stars. h. d. thoreau. 

The time which passes over our heads so imperceptibly 
makes the same gradual change in habits, manners, and char- 
acter as in personal appearance. At the revolution of every 
five years we find ourselves another and yet the same ; there is 
a change of views, and no less of the light in which we regard 
them ; a change of motives as well as of action. 

SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

The year is dying away like the sound of bells; the wind 
passes over the stubble, and finds nothing to move ; only the 
red berries of the slender tree seem as if they would fain re- 
mind us of something cheerful, and the measured beat of the 
thresher's flail calls up the thought that in the dry and fallen 
year lies much of the nourishment of life. J. w. goethe. 

The years — how they have passed ! They are gone as 
clouds go on a summer day ; they came, they grew, they rolled 
full-orbed; they waned, they died, and their story is told. 



56 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Years that are wrought upon us in thought and deed with the 
force and power of eternity, years whose marks we shall carry 
forever, were dissolved like the dew, and their work is finished. 

H. W. BEECHER. 

The soul experiences a marvelous relief as the old year 
rolls, with its massive burden, into the past, and the new year 
advances, with its sunny smiles and hopes. The fact is, a 
multitude of stains have blistered the page upon which the 
hand of time is now writing " Finis," which the soul would 
fain bury in infinite forgetfulness ; but the new year has a fair, 
clean page ; and faith and hope have concerted that, by the 
blessing from on high, it shall bear only what angels will ad- 
mire and God himself will commend. dr. davies. 

We spend our years as a tale that is told, but the tale 
varies in a hundred different ways — varies between man and 
man, between year and year, between youth and age, sorrow 
and joy, laughter and tears. How different the story of the 
child's year from the man's! How much longer it seems! 
How far apart seem the vacations and the Christmases and 
the New Years ! But let the child become a man, and he 
will find that he can tell full fast enough these stories of a 
year ; that if he is disposed to make good use of them he has 
no hours to wish away ; the plot develops very rapidly, and 
the conclusion gallops on the very heels of that first chapter 
which records the birth of a new year. 

J. W. CHADWICK. 

NEW EVERY MORNING. 

SUSAN COOLIDGE. 

Every day is a fresh beginning, 

Every morn is the world made new. 
You who are weary of sorrow and sinning, 

Here is a beautiful hope for you — 

A hope for me and a hope for you. 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY. 57 

All the past things are past and over, 

The tasks are done and the tears are shed. 

Yesterday's errors let yesterday cover ; 

Yesterday's wounds, which smarted and bled, 
Are healed with the healing which night has shed. 

Yesterday now is a part of forever ; 

Bound up in a sheaf, which God holds tight, 

With glad days, and sad days, and bad days, which never 
Shall visit us more with their gloom and their blight, 
Their fullness of sunshine or sorrowful night. 

Let them go, since we cannot relive them, 

Cannot undo and cannot atone ; 
God in his mercy receive, forgive them. 

Only the new days are our own — 

To-day is ours and to-day alone. 

Here are the skies all burnished brightly, 
Here is the spent earth all reborn, 

Here are the tired limbs springing lightly 
To face the sun and to share with the morn 
In the chrism of dew and the cool of dawn. 

Every day is a fresh beginning. 

Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain, 

And spite of old sorrow and older sinning, 
And puzzles forecasted, and possibly pain, 
Take heart with the day, and begin again. 



NEW-YEAR'S MOTTOES. 

I asked the New Year for some motto sweet 



Some rule of life by which to guide my feet ; 
I asked and paused. He answered, soft and low, 
" God's will to know." 



58 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

" Will knowledge, then, suffice, New Year ? " I cried ; 
But ere the question into silence died 
The answer came : " Nay, this remember, too, 
God's will to do." 

Once more I asked, " Is there still more to tell ? " 
And once again the answer sweetly fell : 
" Yea, this one thing all other things above, 
God's will to love." 

Christian Observer. 

THE HOPE OF THE YEAR. 

J. G. Whittier. 

The Night is mother of the Day, 

The Winter of the Spring, 
And ever upon old Decay 

The greenest mosses cling. 
Behind the cloud the starlight lurks, 

Through showers the sunbeams fall; 
For God, who loveth all his works, 

Has left his Hope with all ! 

A NEW-YEAR'S WISH. 

Fullness of health, 
If not of wealth ; 
And lasting peace, 
If not increase! 
Beneath God's care 
Thus may you fare, 
Through happy days 
And pleasant ways, 
With love of friends, 
Till earth -life ends — 
Then happy flight 
To heaven's light ! 

ft. G. H. 3 in the Christian Mirror. 



NEW-YEAR'S DAY. 59 



A NEW-YEAR'S PRAYER. 

Along the ever-rolling tide 
Our little barks unceasing glide, 
Without a sail, without an oar, 
To yonder vast, eternal shore. 

Almighty Saviour, help and save, 
Or we must perish in the wave : 
Our Pilot and our Captain be, 
While we commit our all to thee. 

For all thy care in former days 
Accept our feeble hymn of praise ; 
And fix our anchor, as we sail, 
Of glorious hope, within the veil. 

Safe past the rocks and shoals of time, 
Conduct us to a purer clime ; 
And when we reach the port of bliss 
We'll sing a nobler song than this. 

Ano7t. 



FAST- DAY. 

GOOD FRIDAY AND LENTEN SEASON. 

Historical. — All nations have observed days and periods of fast- 
ing, abstaining wholly or in part from food with various degrees 
of strictness, refraining from public gaiety and amusements, and 
at times from ordinary business, and giving increased attention to 
acts of worship and charity. A most notable fast is that recorded 
as observed by the city of Nineveh when threatened by Jonah with 
divine judgment (Jonah iii. 7, 8). The month Ramadan, their 
ninth month, is kept by the Mohammedans as an annual fast, 
during which they eat and drink nothing from sunrise to sunset, 
and refrain from all customary indulgences. The Jews, from their 
earliest existence as a nation, observed stated and special fasts, 
national and private; only one day of public fasting, the great 
Day of Atonement, being originally ordained by their law (Lev. 
xvi. 29, and xxiii. 27; and Num. xxix. 7), but many special days 
being appointed in view of special public calamities (Judges xx. 26, 
1 Sam. vii. 6, 1 Kings xxi. 27, 2 Chron. xx. 3) ; and during the 
captivity they observed as days of fasting the anniversaries of the 
besieging of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, the capture of the city, 
the destruction of the temple, and the murder at Mizpah of Geda- 
liah, the governor of Judah (Jer. xli. 3). The Old Testament 
also records many private fasts. At the time of Christ the more 
devout Jews fasted Thursdays and Mondays, as the days on which 
Moses went up and came down from Mount Sinai; and these fasts 
were observed with special care by the Pharisees (Luke xviii. 12), 
often with a formalism that was condemned by our Lord (Matt. 
vi. 18). 

No fast-day is recorded as appointed by our Lord or his apostles ; 
but he expected that there would be such days, and gave directions 
as to the manner of their observance (Matt. vi. 16-18, ix. 15). In 
the early church fasting and prayer were customary on the eve of 
any important movement (Acts xiv. 23) ; and at a very early time 
it was usual to fast in preparation for the celebration of Easter, 
especially on Good Friday, the anniversary of the crucifixion. 
This fast was sometimes observed for forty hours, having reference 
to the forty hours which elapsed between the crucifixion and the 
resurrection, but was gradually lengthened. Irenasus (A.D. 115- 
190), and Socrates the Greek Church historian (a.D. 380-439), 

63 



64 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

say that its length was not uniform in their time. Gradually it 
came to be fixed at forty days, commemorating the fasting of 
Christ in the wilderness, of Moses on Sinai, and of Elijah; and 
sometimes it has consisted in abstinence from all food till after 
sundown ; sometimes simply in abstinence from certain particular 
meats and wine. In the sixth century Lent was fixed by a decree 
of Gregory the Great as beginning with Ash Wednesday, in the 
seventh week before Easter, and continuing forty days, Sundays 
not being counted, till Easter. This is now the law of the Roman 
Catholic Church, and was not rejected by the Church of England 
at the Reformation; and after their example is observed by the 
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. 

The English Puritans rejected these traditional observances, and 
the Puritans of New England followed their example. They, how- 
ever, appointed days of fasting and prayer in view of special needs. 
Such appointments appear in their earliest records. The summer 
of 1623 witnessed sore distress among the colonists of Plymouth. 
A severe drought of six weeks prevailed, and almost ruined their 
crops. At length, when other resources failed, with true Puritanic 
piety they appointed a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, that 
divine assistance might be invoked. Their answer was speedy, 
for rain immediately fell, revived the withered crops, and was fol- 
lowed by a bountiful harvest, which led to a Thanksgiving day 
thus intimately connected with that early day of fasting. Fast-day 
became in New England a day of regular annual appointment, and 
was observed more or less faithfully from that time on. In the 
State of Connecticut it became customary to appoint Good Friday 
as the annual Fast-day. In Massachusetts Fast-day was regularly 
appointed by the governor, according to State laws, until 1894. 
It had, however, gradually lost its serious and religious observance, 
and become a mere public holiday; and in 1894 it was abolished 
by act of legislature, the act appointing in its place the 19th of 
April, the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, as Liberty or 
Patriots' Day. (See "Thoughts for the Occasion, Patriotic and 
Secular.") 

Good Friday, the Friday immediately preceding Easter, and the 
anniversary of our Lord's death, has of late been more observed by 
Christians outside of the Romish and Protestant Episcopal churches. 
This is due not so much to any growing influence of these churches 
as to a growing reverence for religion, and perhaps, in some degree, 
to fashion. Many Protestants had a strong prejudice against the 
recognition of the days of the Christian year because of idolatrous 
practices sometimes associated with them, and especially because 
under an established church their observance was enforced. But 
the advance of religious liberty and Christian civilization has weak- 
ened this prejudice, and many Christians now refuse to reject a 
usage merely because it is observed by the Church of Rome ; and 
Good Friday is more and more largely noticed as the anniversary 



FAST-DAY AND LENTEN SEASON. 65 

of our Lord's death, and a fitting time for special penitence and 
prayer, whether private or public. The entire week before Easter, 
the Passion Week of the Roman Church, is often kept by Protes- 
tant Christians of different denominations as a week of special 
prayer and public religious services. 

On the general subject of the value of days and seasons of spe- 
cial fasting and prayer, no wiser word has been spoken than by 
Rev. William F. Brand, in the passage following: 

" A practice so universal as that of fasting must be based on 
some necessity of man. Nevertheless, the objection is sometimes 
heard that it tends to spiritual pride and formalism. This must 
be granted, but abuse is no argument against due use. A Chris- 
tian, who knows that his Lord joined together prayer and fasting, 
can hardly advance the objection. It is also objected that health 
is frequently injured by religious fasting. It may be so. But, on 
the other hand, it can admit of no doubt that, in an age and coun- 
try particularly luxurious, a stated abstinence from food, a weekly 
putting aside of self-indulgence and supporting the body on 
plainer, less attractive food, would go far toward freeing men 
from many of the evils that wait on appetite." 



THE FIRST GOOD FRIDAY.* 

PHILLIPS BROOKS. 

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, 
being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness : by whose stripes ye 
were healed. — 1 Pet. ii. 24. 

St. Peter is speaking of the crucifixion of our Lord. The 
first Good Friday had passed away years before, and already 
there had come into the disciples' hearts a deep understanding 
of that which took place on that first Good Friday. The 
comprehension of Christ's death, the variety and richness of 
its meaning, the way in which it should be looked at — all this 
had become clear to the disciples before these Epistles were 
written to describe for the Christian world, through all the 
Christian centuries, the meaning of the great sacrifice. 

And yet it had all really been there on the afternoon of the 

* A Lenten lecture delivered in Trinity Church, Boston, Friday after- 
noon, April 8, 1887. 



66 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

first Good Friday. When the last breath was breathed by 
the suffering Saviour there was taken into the disciples' souls, 
in its potentialness, all the meaning of the work which his 
death wrought, as that meaning came afterward to them more 
consciously when they used it in their teaching. 

Let us think, on this Good Friday afternoon, of what his 
death accomplished in the world. We may not attempt to 
tell the whole of the rich story. Many men in many ways 
have told it ; and sometimes they have taken views which 
seem contradictory, but which simply indicate the richness of 
that event whose multiplied meaning no man can completely 
comprehend. Let us not think that we can tell it all ; but let 
us try to see what a change had entered into human life when 
Christ died, when his death was complete on that first Good 
Friday afternoon. 

It was, first, the change which comes when any soul, even a 
soul that has seemed to lay least hold upon humanity, passes 
away. Think for a moment. Suppose such a death were the 
only death that had ever taken place. We should know that 
this soul had gone to be nearer to God, to have more clear 
manifestations of his presence and his love. We should know 
that he had carried this humanity of ours into some strange 
experiences, which yet must be forever the same experiences 
that have been passed through in this world. The multitudes 
of human creatures for whom there has been no death have 
stood upon the beach and watched this one soul pass out into 
the sea. 

Think what a change must have happened in the death of 
this one dying soul, the only soul that had ever passed from 
life into death. There must have been a certain change in 
the balance of all life, when the double life, with its two hemi- 
spheres, had been transported from one side to another of its 
existence. Indeed, we should feel that the whole great bal- 
ance of God's universe had changed ; that there was a differ- 
ence which must be felt to the farthest bounds of God's uni- 
verse. There must have been a sense as if something great 



FAST-DAY AXD LEX TEX SEASON. 67 

had happened to die universe ; something whose influence we 
could not begin to understand, but which we must feel, as this 
first life passed out from our sight into the other world, and 
we knew it had gone to God. It would seem as if that soul 
had gathered everything up that had happened to it here, and 
deposited it, and left it as its contribution to the world out of 
which it had passed. Other men would be continually adding 
to their lives. There would be for them no solemn summing 
up of life, no leaving of a man's career as a bequest behind 
him. But this man would seem to have left behind him the 
distinct meaning of his existence, different from the meaning 
of any other existence that had ever taken place, as a finished 
and final contribution to all the life the world was to live 
henceforth. 

Then comes the thought of that man's own experience ; of 
how it must have opened and enlarged ; how those things 
which lay as unconscious germs in his nature must there have 
opened and unveiled themselves. As we watched him going 
we could almost see in his face the anticipation of the change ; 
the development in his own soul of that toward which he was 
looking forward in the world where he was soon to live. 

Now all these things belong, it seems to me, to any death. 
There is a change in the soul itself, a change in the world it 
leaves behind, and a change in the world to which it goes. 
Heaven and earth and a human soul — all of them are made 
different by the transfer from this side of death to the other 
side of death. This applies to any soul that dies. It applies 
to that soul which died this morning in some unknown cham- 
ber in our city. 

But let us think how much greater the change must have 
been to Him who passed from life to death on that first Good 
Friday. The fulfilment of the Saviour's life, the accomplish- 
ment of the purposes which had been forever in the soul of 
God, and those new inspirations and impulses and joys and 
hopes and judgments which have been in this world of ours 
from the time that Jesus died — all of these came and took 



68 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

their place among the facts of the universe when Jesus passed 
out of this world with the cry, " It is finished ! " 

Yet it is possible to state it much more simply. We may 
say that on the first Good Friday afternoon was completed 
that great act by which light conquered darkness and good- 
ness conquered sin. That is the wonder of our Saviour's 
crucifixion. There have been victories all over the world, 
but wherever we look for the victor we expect to find him 
with his heel upon the neck of the vanquished. The wonder 
of Good Friday is that the victor lies vanquished by the van- 
quished one. We have to look deeper into the very heart and 
essence of things before we can see how real the victory is 
that thus hides itself under the guise of defeat. 

Think how it was with the friends of the victor and the 
friends of the vanquished on the evening of that Good Friday. 
The friends of the victor — who were they ? A few women 
with broken hearts, cowering under the great horror through 
which they had just passed, and a few souls besides who had 
been won so that they could not help giving themselves to 
Jesus as their Lord and Master, and who now had seen Jesus, 
their Master and Lord, perish. Yet as we read the story to- 
day there is something so subtle which comes forth from it to 
us ! We find still remaining underneath all their sorrow a 
deep suspicion that their Master had conquered after all. 
What does it mean, this unbroken faith in Jesus, insomuch 
that they still rejoiced to call themselves by his name ; that 
they clung to one another, wanting to be in the company of 
those who loved him ; that they had nothing to talk about a 
day or two afterward, as they journeyed, but their hopes of 
him ; so that they could say, " It is all over and has failed," 
while still in their hearts lay the inextinguishable hope which 
told them that this defeat was a victory after all? 

On the other hand, who were the friends of the vanquished 
that day ? They were the Pharisees, shouting their triumph, 
going to one another and congratulating one another upon 
the work they had done, saying, " We have killed him at last. 



FAST-DAY AXE LEX TEX SEA SOX. 69 

Did you hear his expiring groan ? Did you see him hanging 
upon the cross ?" And yet in the souls of those same Phari- 
sees there was a fear and a doubt ; so that they went to Pilate, 
saying, " Let us have a guard, that there may not be any pos- 
sibility of his escaping from the tomb." 

It is the power of evil all through the ages, triumphant in 
what it thinks its victory, yet with a suspicion at heart that it 
has been beaten, and is being beaten all the time, by righteous- 
ness. Is not this the meaning of Good Friday ? That which 
seems to have conquered has been conquered, and that which 
seems to have been conquered has conquered. Evil has been 
trampled underfoot, though it boasts itself to be master of the 
world. Good has smitten evil, although good seems to have 
been trodden underfoot by sin. Victory has come by defeat. 
Overcoming has been attained by undergoing. 

It is that which is going on everywhere to-day. Evil seems 
to be everywhere conquering good, and yet good is every- 
where conquering evil. Oh, let us believe it ! Before the 
cross of Jesus, let us believe it ; so that we shall be able to 
rejoice in the good which seems to be broken down and de- 
feated, knowing all the time in our souls that it really is the 
conqueror, and must be declared the conqueror some day. 
So shall we join the disciples of our Lord, keeping faith in 
him in spite of the crucifixion, and making ready, by our loy- 
alty to him in the days of his darkness, for the time when we 
shall enter into his triumph in the days of his light. 

And the beauty of it is that the same method runs through- 
out the disciples' work which ran through his work. Christ's 
method is repeating itself in the work of his disciples for ever 
and ever. As he who first gained the great victory overcame 
by undergoing the power of evil, shall we be surprised if that 
is the sort of victory that God calls upon us to gain ? It is 
the victory which it is always the best to gain which makes 
the richest victory for any soul. 

Think how it is everywhere. Evervwhere men who are 
ready to undergo, in humiliation and patience and faith, by 



7° THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

and by find out that they have overcome, just as Jesus did. 
You are poor and distressed, and in want of the things that 
belong to this daily life. Every day the sun rises upon you 
and finds you in poverty; every day the sun sets upon you 
and leaves you in poverty still. Oh, in patiently bearing that 
poverty learn continually to trust the riches of the great God ; 
and in the course of years you will know that you have over- 
come by undergoing, that your soul has grown rich, and that 
you have echoed the greater victory of Christ. 

You are shut out from knowledge that you would like to 
gain. You would like to give your days to study, to drink 
deep of the fountains out of which flows the wisdom that men 
find everywhere hidden in the midst of this wondrous world. 
But you cannot, for you are driven to do some drudging work. 
You go anfl take that work and do it, full of trust and loving 
obedience. What is the result ? There grows in you a wis- 
dom such as books cannot give. Submitting to - ignorance, 
you conquer ignorance. 

You want to help your fellow-men. You have to set your- 
self against the prejudices and dispositions of your fellow- 
men, and so you win their disesteem. You wish that they 
would praise you. You long for their approbation and do 
not get it. You sacrifice it. But out of your surrender there 
comes an opportunity of saving and helping your fellow-men 
such as comes to no popular idol ; and you, the despised man, 
have within your soul the rich knowledge that God has given 
you that privilege. Once more, have you not overcome by 
undergoing ? 

And so of our life in general. Life seems too much for 
you, too great a burden and too great a task ; yet if you are 
patient, brave, and cheerful, by and by you will find that you 
have conquered life and are its lord. It seems to beat you 
down with every blow ; but at last there you stand, with your 
feet upon it, and are victor over it, and have gained out of it 
that which God gives to souls that do conquer life — character 
and strength and faith and love, and the wish to help and the 



FAST-DAY AND LENTEN SEASON. 71 

power to help your brethren ; to teach the souls that are being 
beaten and bruised and conquered by life the way to conquer 
it and compel it to give them the tokens of victory. 

These are the ways in which each day is to be to us Good 
Friday. We are to be sacrificed to evil, and by sacrificing 
ourselves to evil become victors over evil. 

It is easy to distort the truth. But we have only to turn to 
the healthfulness of Jesus in order to see that there is no truth 
in such doctrines as men have run after in their fantastic ef- 
forts to overcome the world. The essence of that by which 
Jesus overcame the world was not suffering, but obedience. 
Yes, men may puzzle themselves and their hearers over the 
question where the power of the life of Jesus and the death of 
Jesus lay ; but the soul of the Christian always knows that it 
lay in the obedience of Christ. He was determined at every 
sacrifice to do his Father's will. Let us remember that; and 
the power of Christ's sacrifice may enter into us, and some 
little share of the redemption of the world may come through 
us, as the great work came through him. 

Let us stop there. Good Friday brings to us these inspira- 
tions. And Good Friday and the days to come bring duties 
into which these inspirations may be borne. God grant us so 
to have entered into the spirit of this day as that we shall go 
forth to the days that yet remain to us in this world impelled 
by one consuming wish — the wish that we may be fit instru- 
ments, in true consecration and entire obedience, for doing 
some little fragment of the will of God upon earth. So we 
shall have entered into that victory over life which, though it 
came by death, did surely come to Jesus and shall surely 
come to those who are sacrificed with him. 



72 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION, 

THE GROUPS AROUND THE CROSS. 

T. DE WITT TALMAGE, D.D. 

And the people stood beholding. — Luke xxiii. 35. 

There is nothing more wild and ungovernable than a mob. 
Some of the older people may remember the excitement in 
New York during the riot when the people went howling 
through the streets at the time Macready stood on the stage 
of the Astor Place Opera-house. Those of you who have 
read history may remember the excitement in Paris during 
the time of Louis XVI. To this day you may see the marks 
of the bullets that struck the palace as the Swiss guards stood 
defending it. There is a wild mob going through the streets 
of Jerusalem. As it passes along it is augmented by the mul- 
titudes that come out from the lanes and the alleys to join the 
shout and the laughter and the lamentation of the crowds, 
who become more and more ungovernable as they get toward 
the gates of the city. Fishermen, hirelings of the high priests, 
merchant princes, beggars, mingle in that throng. They are 
passing out now through the gates of the city. They come 
to a hill white with the bleached skulls of victims — a hill that 
was itself the shape of a skull, covered with skulls, and called 
Golgotha, which means "the place of a skull." Three men 
are put to death — two for theft, one for alleged treason, hav- 
ing claimed to be King of the Jews. Each one carries his own 
cross, but one of them is so exhausted from previous hardship 
that he faints under the burden, and they compel Simon of 
Cyrene, who is supposed to be in sympathy with the con- 
demned man, to take hold of one end of the cross and help 
him to carry it. They reach the hill. The three men are 
lifted up in horrid crucifixion. While the mob are howling 
and mocking and hurling scorn at the chief object of their 
hate, the darkness hovers and scowls and swoops upon the 



FAST-DAY AND LENTEN SEASON 73 

scene, and the rocks rend with terrific clang, and choking 
wind and moaning cavern and dropping sky and shuddering 
earthquake declare, in whisper, in groan, in shriek, " This is 
the Son of God." 

I propose to speak of the two groups of spectators around 
the cross — the friendly and the unfriendly. In the unfriendly- 
group were the Roman soldiers. Now it is a grand thing to 
serve one's country. I think if St. Paul had gone into mili- 
tary service he would have eclipsed the heroism of the Caesars 
and the Alexanders and the Napoleons of the world by his 
bravery and enthusiasm. There is a time to be at peace and 
there is a time when a Christian has to fight. It was no mean 
thing to be a Roman soldier ; it was no idle thing. But the 
noblest army has in it sneaks, and these were the men who 
were detailed from that army to attend to the execution of 
Christ. Their dastardly behavior puts out the gleam of their 
spears, and covers their banner with obloquy. They were 
cowards. They were ruffians. They were gamblers. No 
noble soldier would treat a fallen foe as they treated the cap- 
tured Christ. Generally there is respect paid to the garments 
of the departed. It may be only a hat or a coat or a shoe, 
but it goes down in the family wardrobe from generation to 
generation. Now that Christ is to be disrobed, who shall 
have his coat ? Joseph of Arimathea would have liked to 
have had it. Mary the mother of Jesus would have liked to 
have had it. How fondly she would have hovered over it, and 
when she must leave it, with what tenderness she would have 
bequeathed it to her best friend ! It was the only covering 
of Christ in darkness and storm. That was the very coat that 
the woman touched when from it there went out virtue for 
her healing. That was the only wedding-garment he had in 
the marriage of Cana, and the storms that swept Galilee had 
drenched it again and again. And what did they do with it ? 
They raffled for it. We have heard of men who gambled 
away their own garments, who gambled away their children's 
shoes, who gambled away the family Bible, who gambled 



74 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

away their wife's last dress; but it adds to the ghastliness of 
the Saviour's humiliation and the horror of the crime, when I 
hear Jesus in his last moments declaring, "They parted my 
garments among them, and for my vesture did they cast lots." 

In this unfriendly group around the cross also were the 
rulers , and the scribes, and the chief priests. . Lawyers and 
judges and ministers of religion in this day are expected to 
have some respect for their office. In this land where the 
honors of the judiciary sometimes come to besotted politicians 
and men noted for drunkenness — even in this land where we 
live, it is an unheard-of thing that a judge comes down from 
the bench and strikes a prisoner in the face. No minister of 
religion would scoff at or mock a condemned criminal. And 
yet the great men of that land seemed to be equal to any ruf- 
fianism. They were vying with one another as to how much 
scorn and billingsgate they could cast into the teeth of the 
dying Christ. Why, the worst felon, when his enemy has 
fallen, refuses to strike him. But these men were not ashamed 
to strike Jesus when he was down. So it has been in all ages 
of the world that there have been men in high positions who 
despised Christ and his gospel. The mob that hounded Christ 
from Jerusalem to " the place of a skull " has never been dis- 
persed, but is augmenting yet, as many of the learned men of 
the world and great men of the world come out from their 
studies and their laboratories and their palaces, and cry, 
"Away with this man! Away with him!" The most bitter 
hostility which many of the learned men of this day exercise 
in any direction they exercise against Jesus Christ, the Son of 
God, the Saviour of the world. 

In this group of enemies surrounding the cross, in this un- 
friendly group, I also find the railing thief. It seems that he 
twisted himself on the spikes ; he forgot his own pain in his 
complete antipathy to Jesus. I do not know what kind of a 
thief he was. I do not know whether he had been a burglar 
or a pickpocket or a highwayman ; but our idea of his crimes 
is aggravated when we hear him blaspheming the Redeemer. 



FAST-DAY AXD LENTEN SEASON. 75 

Oh, shame indescribable ! Oh, ignominy insupportable ! 
Hissed at by a thief ! In that ridicule I find the fact that 
there is a hostility between sin and holiness. There cannot 
be, there never has been, any sympathy between honesty and 
theft, between purity and lasciviousness, between zeal and in- 
dolence, between faith and unbelief, between light and dark- 
ness, between heaven and hell. It is a sad thing to know 
that this malefactor died just as he had lived. People nearly 
always do. Have you never remarked that ? There is but 
one instance mentioned in all the Bible of a man repenting in 
the last hour. All the other men who lived lives of iniquity, 
as far as we can understand from the Bible, died deaths of 
iniquity. As you live you will die, in all probability. Do 
not make your soul believe that you can go on in a course of 
sin and then in the last moment repent. There is such a 
thing as death-bed repentance, but I never saw one. God in 
all this Bible presents us only one case of that kind, and it is 
not safe to risk it, lest our case should happen not to be the 
one amid ten thousand. 

But there were rays of light that streamed into the crucifix- 
ion. As Christ was on the cross and looked down on the 
crowd of people, he saw some very warm friends there. And 
that brings me to the remarking upon the friendly group that 
were around the cross. And the first in all that crowd was 
his mother. You need not point her out to me. I can see 
by the sorrow, the anguish, the woe, by the upthrown hands. 
That all means mother. " Oh," you say, " why didn't she go 
down to the foot of the hill and sit with her back to the scene ? 
It was too horrible for her to look upon." Do you not know 
when a child is in anguish or trouble, it always makes a hero- 
ine of a mother ? Take her away, you say, from the cross. 
You cannot drag her away. She will keep on looking; as 
long as her Son breathes she will stand there looking. Oh, 
what a scene it was for a tender-hearted mother to look upon ! 
How gladly she would have sprung to his relief ! It was her 
Son — her Son ! How gladly she would have clambered up 



76 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

on the cross, and hung there herself if her Son could have 
been relieved ! How strengthening she would have been to 
Christ if she might have come close by him and soothed him ! 
Oh, there was a good deal in what the little sick child said, 
upon whom a surgical operation of a painful nature must be 
performed. The doctor said, " That child won't live through 
this operation unless you encourage him. You go in and get 
his consent." The father told him all the doctor said, and 
added, " Now, John, will you go through with it ? Will you 
consent to it ? " He looked very pale, and he thought a min- 
ute, and said, " Yes, father, if you will hold my hand I will." 
So the father held his hand and led him straight through the 
peril. O woman, in your hour of anguish, whom do you want 
with you ? Mother. Young man, in your hour of trouble, 
whom do you want to console you ? Mother. If the mother 
of Jesus could have only taken those bleeding feet into her 
lap ! If she might have taken the dying head on her bosom ! 
If she might have said to him, " It will soon be over, Jesus ; 
it will soon be over, and we will meet again, and it will be all 
well ! " But no, she dared not come up so close. They 
would have struck her back with their hammers. There can 
be no alleviation at all. Jesus must suffer, and Mary must 
look. I suppose she thought of the birth-hour in Bethlehem. 
I suppose she thought of that time when with her boy in her 
bosom she hastened on in the darkness in the flight toward 
Egypt. I suppose she thought of his boyhood, when he was 
the joy of her heart. I suppose she thought of the thousand 
kindnesses he had done her, not forsaking her or forgetting 
her even in his last moments, but turning to John and say- 
ing, " There is mother ; take her with you. She is old now ; 
she cannot help herself. Do for her just as I would have 
done for her if I had lived. Be very tender and gentle with 
her. 'Behold, thy mother!' " She thought it all over; and 
there is no memory like a mother's memory, and there is no 
woe like a mother's woe. 

There was another friend in that group, and that was Simon 



FAST-DAY AND LENTEN SEASON. 77 

the Cyrcnian. He was a stranger in the land, but had been 
there long enough to show his regard for Christ. I suppose he 
was one of those men who never can see anybody imposed 
upon but he wants to help him. " Well, Simon," they cried 
out, " you are such a friend to Jesus, help him to carry the 
cross ; you see him fainting under it." So he did. A scene 
for all the ages of time and all the cycles of eternity : a cross 
with Jesus at the one end of it and Simon at the other, sug- 
gesting the idea to you, O troubled soul, that no one need 
ever carry a whole cross. You have only half a cross to 
carry. If you are in poverty, Jesus was poor, and he comes 
and takes the other end of the cross. If you are in persecu- 
tion, Jesus was persecuted, and he comes and takes the other 
end of the cross. If you are in any kind of trouble, you have 
a sympathizing Redeemer. Oh, how the truth flashed upon 
my soul this morning ! Jesus at one end of the cross and the 
soul at the other end of the cross ; and when I see Christ and 
Simon going up the hill together, I say we ought to help one 
another to carry our burdens. " Bear ye one another's bur- 
dens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." If you find a man in 
persecution or sickness or in business trouble, go right to him 
and say, " My brother, I have come to help you. You take 
hold of one end of this cross and I will take hold of the other 
end, and Jesus Christ will come in and take hold of the mid- 
dle ; and after a while there will be no cross at all." 

But there was another marked personage in that friendly 
group. That was the penitent malefactor. He was a thief, or 
had been ; no disguising that fact. All his crimes came upon 
him with relentless conviction. What was he to do ? " Oh," 
he says, " what shall I do with my sins upon me ?" And he 
looks around and sees Jesus, and sees compassion in his face, 
and he says, " Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy 
kingdom." What did Jesus do ? Did he turn and say, " You 
thief ! I have seen all your crimes, and you have jeered and 
scoffed at me ; now die forever "? Did he say that ? Oh no ; 
Jesus could not say that. He says, " To-day shalt thou be 



78 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

with me in Paradise." I sing the song of mercy for the chief 
of sinners. Murderers have come and plunged their red hands 
in this fountain, and they have been made as white as snow. 
The prodigal that was off for twenty years has come back and 
sat at his father's table. The ship that has been tossed in a 
thousand storms floats into this harbor. The' parched and 
sunstruck soul comes under the shadow of this rock. Tens 
of thousands who were as bad as you and I have been have 
put down their burdens and their sins at the feet of this blessed 
Jesus. 

But there was another friendly group. I do not know their 
names; we are not told; but we are simply told there were 
many around the cross who sympathized with the dying suf- 
ferer. Oh, the wail of woe that went through that crowd 
when they saw Jesus die ! You know the Bible says if all the 
things Jesus did were recorded the world could not contain 
the books that would be written. It implies that what we 
have in the Bible are merely specimens of the Saviour's mercy. 
We are told that one blind man got his eyesight; I suppose 
he cured twenty that we are not told of. When he cured the 
one leper whose story is recorded, he might have cured twenty 
lepers. Where he did one act of kindness mentioned, he must 
have done a thousand we do not know about. I see those 
who received kindnesses from him standing beneath the cross, 
and one says, " Why, that is the Jesus that bound up my 
broken heart." And another standing beneath the cross says, 
" That is the Jesus that restored my daughter to life." An- 
other looks up and says, " Why, that is the Jesus who gave 
me my eyesight." And another looks up and says, " That is 
the Jesus who lifted me up when I was sick ; oh, I can't bear 
to see him die ! " Every pelt of the hammer drove a spike 
through their hearts. Every groan of Christ opens a new 
fountain of sorrow. They had better get on with that cruci- 
fixion quickly or it will never take place. These disciples will 
seize Christ and snatch him from the grasp of those bad men, 
and take those ringleaders of the persecution and put them up 



FAST-DA Y AXD LEXTEX SEA SOX. 79 

in the very place. Be quick with those nails ; be quick with 
that gall ; be quick with those spikes, for I see in the sorrow 
and in the wrath of those disciples a storm brewing that will 
burst on the heads of those persecutors. 

To-day we come and we join the friendly crowd. Who 
wants to be on the wrong side ? I cannot bear to be in the 
unfriendly group. There is not a man or woman in this house 
who wants to be in the unfriendly group. I want to join the 
other group. We come while they are bewailing, and join 
their lamentations. We see that brow bruised ; we hear that 
dying groan ; and while the priests scoff and the devils rave, 
and the lightnings of God's wrath are twisted into a wreath 
for that bloody mount, you and I will join the cry, the suppli- 
cation, of the penitent malefactor, " Lord, remember me when 
thou comest into thy kingdom." Oh, the pain, the ignominy, 
the ghastliness, the agony ; and yet the joy, the thrilling, 
bounding, glorious hope ! Son of Mary ! Son of God 7 Is 
there one here who will reject this atonement made for the 
people ; not for one man here and one man there, but for all 
who will accept it? 

There was a very touching scene among an Indian tribe in 
the last century. It seemed that one of the chieftains had 
slain a man belonging to an opposite tribe, and that tribe 
came up and said, " We will exterminate you unless you sur- 
render the man who committed that crime." The chieftain 
who did the crime stepped out from the ranks, and said, " I 
am not afraid to die, but I have a wife and four children, and 
I have a father aged and a mother aged, whom I support by 
hunting, and I sorrow to leave them helpless." Just as he 
said that, his old father from behind stepped out, and said, 
" He shall not die ; I take his place. I am old and well 
stricken in years. I can do no good. I might as well die. 
My days are almost over. He cannot be spared. Take me." 
And they accepted the sacrifice. Wonderful sacrifice, you 
say ; but not so wonderful as that found in the gospel ; for we 
deserved to die, aye, we were sentenced, when Christ, not 



So THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

worn out with years, but in the flush of his youth, said : " Save 
that man from going down to the pit ; / am the ransom ! Put 
his burdens on my shoulders. Let his stripes fall on my back. 
Take my heart for his heart. Let me die, that he may live." 
Shall it be told to-day in heaven that, notwithstanding all 
those wounds and all that blood and all those tears and all 
that agony, you would not accept him ? 

O Lord Jesus, we accept thee ! We all accept thee now. 
There is no hand in all this great audience lifted to smite thee 
on the cheek now. No one will spear thee now. No one 
will strike thee now. Come in, Lord Jesus; come quickly! 

Christian Age. 

THE MAN OF SORROWS. 

CHARLES H. PARKHURST, D.D. 
A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. — Isa. liii. 3. 

What are we to do with a feature of Christ like that 
brought to our attention in the text, " He was a man of sor- 
rows, and acquainted with grief"? If his sorrow had been 
an accident of his life, we should not then be in a situation to 
lay upon it any great amount of emphasis, at any rate so far 
as any prescriptive references are concerned. But clearly we 
have to do here with something that is at the farthest possible 
remove from the accidental. You have but to read his life as 
either of the four evangelists has recorded it, to appreciate the 
fact that heavy-heartedness constituted a permanent ingredient 
of his experience. It was a part, and no inconsiderable part, 
of his life, to be troubled, concerned, and sorrowful. This 
being so, unless we are in error in thinking that Christ's life in 
its fiber and complexion is to be accepted as a model for all 
earthly life that is distinctively Christian, then we have a mat- 
ter in hand just now that is worth looking at and worth look- 
ing into with a good deal of seriousness and painstaking. 

In approaching the question, let it be said that no fair read- 



FAST-DAY AND LENTEN SEASON. 8 1 

ing of the narrative of Christ's life will leave the impression 
that sorrow of heart was a grace that Christ cultivated. The 
pathetic was not a temper of spirit which he encouraged in 
himself or in others. Heaviness of mind was not a thing to 
be sought in and for itself. There is no gainsaying the fact 
that one great object of his mission was to make the world 
glad. Still, for all that, he was a man of sorrows, and ac- 
quainted with grief. It needs also to be said that for us to 
be heavy-hearted merely because Christ was, to be sorrowful 
by a sheer act of imitation, is distinctly repugnant to every- 
thing like Christian sense, and at the farthest possible remove 
from all that deserves to be called Christian sincerity. Pure 
simulation is coarse affectation, and the finer the original that 
is simulated the more despicable the counterfeit. Neither can 
we leave out of the account all those passages, especially in 
the New Testament, where particular praise is accorded to 
gladness of heart. You will remember that the second of the 
recognized fruits of the Spirit is joy. We must be careful 
always, in our attempts to arrive at the intention of Scripture, 
to attain a position which shall secure the consent of all the 
parts. So that while we are concerning ourselves just at 
present with the matter of Christian heavy-heartedness, we 
must do it in the light of all that Scripture has to say about 
sentiments of a warmer and cheerier complexion. Neverthe- 
less, when all these caveats have been entered and gladness 
of heart eulogized to the fullest extent, authorized by multi- 
tudinous expressions occurring throughout the entire Scrip- 
tures, it still remains beyond dispute that our Lord's life was 
lived in shadow, and that he died at last less because of the 
nails and the spear-wounds than he did of a broken heart. 

If, then, it is true that to be Christ and to be a Christian 
are so related to each other that what was essential in the ex- 
perience of the one will be reproduced in the experience of 
the other, we have matter on hand that it behooves those of 
us especially who bear the name of Christ to bend our minds 
to in searching and devout inquiry. 



82 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Our Lord's sorrow, as becomes easily apparent from the 
perusal of this entire fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, as well as 
from the study of the Gospels — our Lord's sorrow was due to 
the load which he undertook to carry, to the purpose that was 
upon him, and to the strain he suffered in trying to accom- 
plish that purpose. It can be expressed in one way by saying 
that he came to interfere with the natural current of event. 
And it made him tired. And a man, even a divine man, is 
less apt to laugh when he is tired. A good deal of what we 
call our gladness of heart, if we will care to scrutinize it, is 
simply the congenial luxury of drifting down the current of 
event. If you are pulling your boat upstream you will be 
sober while you are about it. Strained powers are serious. 
It is the farthest from our thought to disparage exuberance or 
even hilarity ; nevertheless, it remains a fact that hilarity is 
feeling out at pasture and not feeling under the yoke. It is 
steam escaping at the throttle because it is not pushing at the 
piston. Let no one go away from here and say that we have 
been discouraging merriment. There is nothing that some of 
us need much more than we do merriment ; but at the same 
time you cannot be merry when your muscles are stiffened to 
a purpose. It is physiologically, ethically, and psychologically 
impossible. That is the point ; and it may not be quite possi- 
ble when once a purpose has fastened itself upon you to shake 
that purpose off. I venture to say that Christ could not shake 
his purpose off. He was here to stay the downward drift of 
event ; the purpose was too vast to be easily flung aside, and 
his muscles were too solidly knotted to it to be easily un- 
knotted and relaxed. And we shall have to go on and say 
that it was an inherent part of Christ to have a purpose and 
to be mightily bent to its achievement ; and not only that, it 
was an inherent part of Christ as the Saviour of this world to 
seize upon the current of event and of history and to under- 
take to reverse it. Exactly that was the genius of the Christ- 
mission. He could not have been Christ and not have 
done it. 



FAST-DAY AND LENTEN SEASON. 83 

Now if it is a part of the very essence of the Christ-life to 
do that, it is just as much a part of the very essence of the 
Christian life to do that. We may struggle against the pull- 
ing of that truth, but we cannot burst its bonds nor break its 
imperialism. You cannot drift down the tide of event and be 
a Christ-man or a Christ-woman. The world is to be saved ; 
the tide is to be reversed. Man inspired of God is to do it ; 
and you cannot buckle yourself down to that problem in 
Christian whole-heartedness and not grow sober under it. A 
thousand torch-lights and ten thousand brass bands will not 
convert the world-tragedy into a world-comedy, nor crinkle 
the fixed lines of your seriousness into merriment. Now you 
see the philosophy of the sober Christ. He flung himself 
against forty centuries of bad event, and the Divine Man got 
bruised by the impact. He stood up and let forty centuries 
jump on him ; he held his own, but blood broke through his 
pores in perspiration, and about that there is nothing humorous. 

The edge of this truth is not broken by the fact that Christ 
took hold of the work of the world's saving in a larger way 
than it is possible for us to do, and that therefore the burden 
of his undertaking came upon him in a heavier, wider, and 
more crushing way than it can come upon us ; and that there- 
fore, while it overwhelmed him in sorrow, our smaller mission 
and lighter task can with entire propriety leave us buoyant 
and gladsome. All of that conception of the case lacks dig- 
nity and reach. You cannot take hold of a great matter in a 
small way. It is true we cannot reach round the world and 
carry it. Neither did Christ. He took hold of the world at 
a point ; he took hold primarily of a dozen men, but in grasp- 
ing them he felt his hold upon the entire world back of them, 
all the nations about them, and all the centuries forward of 
them. To be sure, it is but a speck of the great world that 
we can take hold of, but if our work is done with the animus 
with which Christ did his, we shall feel the entirety of the 
great world that that speck groins into, and the superb reach 
of our intention will make our work as sobering and solemniz- 



84 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

ing as ever Christ's great work made him. To a Christian, 
appreciating the intimate connections and the wide relations 
of his service, seriousness is inevitable. There will be no 
affectation in it and no assumption about it. The contribu- 
tion which our service renders may be a small one — that has 
nothing to do with it ; but if we feel the vastness and the uni- 
versality of the purpose toward which our little contribution is 
paid, that feeling will put tension into the muscles of the face 
and iron out most of the smiles. 

We have spoken of the sobering effect of work done with a 
Christian appreciation of the momentous purposes which such 
work is fitted to subserve. It is but a step now to go on 
from that and speak of the saddening effect necessarily flow- 
ing from the circumstances under which in this world Chris- 
tian work has to be done. It was the love which Christ had 
for the world that made him sad while doing his work in the 
world ; and the infinitude of his love is what explains the un- 
utterableness of his pain ; for the world in which Christ ful- 
filled his mission was a suffering world. Now a man who is 
without love can be in the midst of suffering and not suffer. 
A loveless spirit grieves over its own pain, but has no sense of 
another's pain, and no feeling of being burdened by another's 
pain. Love has this peculiar property, that it makes the per- 
son whom we love one with us, so that his experience becomes 
a part of our own life, his pain becomes painful to us, his bur- 
dens make us tired. We cannot have the heart that Christ 
had and not in the same degree have his suffering. We may 
be sound in our doctrinal position, fight doctrinal heresy as 
though it were an exhalation from the under-world, be instant 
in our attendance upon the means of grace, statedly partici- 
pate in the service memorial of our Lord's dying love, but a 
loving heart is what makes out the major part of the whole 
Christian matter — a heart, therefore, that feels others' burdens 
and griefs as though they were its own ; and one cannot have 
such a heart in the midst of this world and not have an aching 
heart. It is aside from the mark to say that that makes of 



FAST-DA Y AXD LENTEN SEASOX. 85 

the Christian religion a gloomy religion. The gloom is not in 
the religion, the gloom is in the world, and sorrow of spirit 
like that of our Lord is simply the way tender-heartedness like 
that of our Lord is certain to be affected when the shadow of 
the world's suffering falls upon it. 

Now these things cannot be gotten away from. This is 
not heaven. Christ found no heaven here, and if we have his 
spirit it will be just as difficult for us to find a heaven here as 
it was for him. No loving mother can be happy while her 
child is suffering, and Christian tenderness of heart stands 
related to any known suffering in quite the same way that a 
mother's tenderness of heart stands affected toward the pains 
of her own child. Here, then, is a criterion by means of 
which we can tell something as to how far we have gotten 
along in our approaches to the likeness of Christ. Christ's 
love for man was so tender and passionate that man's suffer- 
ings and sins wearied and agonized him. This I had rather 
not push any further. You see the point. I have no anxiety 
as to the correctness with which the case has been presented. 
The principles are clear and their application entirely simple. 
If we nest ourselves in our comfortable homes, and are satis- 
fied to remain there ; if we merge ourselves in our favorite 
pursuits, and find in them a welcome retreat from the vexa- 
tions and discomforts that prevail outside ; if what we know 
about the wickedness of the world, its pains and privations, 
still permits us to move along our own way in quiet and con- 
tentedness, with an occasional prayer of thanksgiving, per- 
haps, that God has been more considerate of us than he has 
of others, we may be very excellent members of the commu- 
nity and valued members of society, the pets, indeed, of the 
polite social circle in which we move, an ornament to the 
fraternity of science or letters or art with which we may be 
affiliated, but we would do better not to call ourselves by the 
name of Christ, unless we think it is consistent to bear his 
name at the same time that we are destitute of his spirit. 

Homiletic Review. 



86 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION, 



LEARN DURING LENT TO SAY "NO." 

BISHOP H. C. POTTER. 

Do I speak to no one who is consciously under the domin- 
ion of a base habit or a mean compliance ? Is there no one 
of us who has known what it is weakly to cringe and say 
" yes," either to his own appetites or ambitions, or to the false 
or dishonest plans of other men ? Oh, then, my brother, be 
a man, and speak the "no" your heart has long ago striven 
and yet hesitated to utter. Or, if you cannot, if your chains 
have grown so strong, your lips so stiff, that you cannot frame a 
" no," ask Christ, first, to set you free, and, while you ask him, 
do your part to learn a free man's firmness. Say " no," for a 
season at any rate, to some one or more of your trivial and 
perhaps hitherto very harmless indulgences. No man ever 
knows what power his most insignificant habits have gained 
over him until he tests them by downright denial. Say 
"no," then, for forty days at least, to some exacting appetite, 
some domineering custom of the world about you, some 
wonted harshness of speech or judgment that may seem so 
natural to you. Say " no " when the aggressive clamors of 
any secular engagements bid you neglect engagements with 
your Maker. Say " no " when any summons comes between 
you and God's courts, or any other hours you owe to him. 
Say " no " when any lure or bribe entices you to speak an un- 
true word or do an unclean deed. God shall see and own the 
heroism of your endeavor, though men may not. He knows 
already what that word "no," if ever you shall speak it 
bravely for his sake, will cost you ; and when at last the books 
are opened, and the great assize is set, his voice shall crown 
your steadfast service with his own divine approval. 



FAST-DA Y AND LENTEN SEASON, 87 



WHAT LENT MAY SUGGEST. 

Lent has a suggestion for the Christian believer who has 
been trained to faith in the doctrine of Christ without a cor- 
responding fellowship with him in person. To such a mind 
the cross of Christ is hardly more than a figure, of which the 
reality is to be found in the doctrine of the atonement. The 
passion of the Redeemer is lost sight of in the endeavor to 
measure the uses of his sufferings and death, their relation to 
God, their effect upon man. A more sympathetic considera- 
tion of the personal element in the sufferings of our Lord, the 
meditation upon the sorrows of the Messiah, would prove a 
source of spiritual quickening not only to those who are accus- 
tomed to live in the region of philosophic thought, but also to 
those who are in the midst of evangelistic work. The follow- 
ing of Christ down into the valley of humiliation and death, 
the study, day by day, of the last days of his earthly life, the 
reverent watch by the cross, the waiting for the resurrection — 
these are spiritual exercises which cannot fail to give warmth 
and reality to the Christian faith. The majority of Christian 
believers, without reference to sect, now observe Easter. By 
the " logic of events " no less than by spiritual sympathy, Pas- 
sion week deserves its place in the calendar of the private 
Christian ; and the more remote the thoughts which it sug- 
gests may be to his ordinary religious thinking, the more help- 
ful they may be to the spirit of devotion. 

Christian Age. 



LENTEN REFLECTIONS. 

1. Our Lord's preparation for his temptation, by the anoint- 
ing of the Holy Ghost (Matt. iii. 16). 

2. First part of our Lord's temptation (Matt. iv. 2-4). 

3. Second part of our Lord's temptation (Matt. iv. 5-7). 



88 



THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 



4. Third part of our Lord's temptation (Matt. iv. 8-10). 

5. He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without 
sin (Heb. iv. 15). 

6. In that he suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor 
them that are tempted (Heb. ii. 18). 



A SCRIPTURAL LENT. 

ROBERT HERRICK (i 591-1674). 



Is this a fast, to keep 
The larder lean, 
And clean 
From fat of veals and sheep ? 

Is it to quit the dish 
Of flesh, yet still 
To fill 
The platter high with fish? 

Is it to fast an hour, 
Or rag'd to go, 
Or show 
A downcast look, and sour? 



No ; 'tis a fast to dole 
Thy sheaf of wheat, 
And meat, 
Unto the hungry soul. 

It is to fast from strife, 
From old debate 
And hate ; 
To circumcise thy life. 

To show a heart grief-rent ; 
To starve thy sin, 
Not bin : 
And that's to keep thy Lent. 



It avails nothing if we distress our bodies with fasting, if we 
do not amend our hearts or care for our souls. 

Cesarius of Arles. 

Fasting and prayer are the great barriers to keep out all 
temptations of intemperance and sin from the minds of men. 

Rev. Canon Barry. 



FAST-DAY AND LEX TEX SEA SOX. 89 

Though fasting be a means of grace, yet it is better to de- 
vour a whole ox on Good Friday than bewray the soul by 
falsehood. Berthold. 

God ordained fasting, and to fasting pertaineth four things : 
gifts to poor folk, gladness of heart spiritual, not to be angry 
or annoyed, nor to grudge that he fasteth. 

Chaucer. 

So near stand grief and joy, despair and triumph. Between 
them lies the sepulcher. On the earthward side of the sepul- 
cher is death. But on the heavenward side is life. 

I am thankful for these hard times. It is a good thing for 
nations to feed on husks once in a while, like the prodigal 
son, or they would die of fatty degeneration. I honestly be- 
lieve that these hard times are going to result in good times 
for the church of God. P. S. Henson. 

Death is the justification of all the ways of the Christian, 
the last end of all his sacrifices, the touch of the Great Master 
which completes the picture. Mme. Swetchine. 

In the awful mystery of human life it is a consolation some- 
times to believe that our mistakes, perhaps even our sins, are 
permitted to be instruments of our education. 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 

Historical. — The anniversary of our Lord's resurrection is reck- 
oned not according to the civil calendar, but by the Jewish reli- 
gious calendar, Christ having died and risen again during the Jewish 
Passover, which was celebrated from the 14th to the 21st of the 
Jewish month Nisan. There was some difference of practice among 
the early Christians, and even sharp controversies ; and to settle 
these the Council of Nice (a.d. 325) decreed that Easter should 
be celebrated the first Sunday after the first full moon following 
the vernal equinox, and this decree has been followed by the gen- 
eral practice of the church. The equinox always falling on March 
2 1st, the first full moon following may be in the night of March 21st- 
22d, and the Sunday after may be as early as March 22d. But a 
whole lunar month, less one day, may pass after the equinox before 
a Sunday following a full moon, and so Easter may be as late as 
April 25th. Between these extremes the date will vary from year to 
year. The Oriental churches, in Russia, Greece, and elsewhere, 
still observe the unreformed calendar, and their Easter therefore 
falls sometimes before and sometimes after that of the Western 
Church, though sometimes, as in 1865, the two coincide. 

The name "Easter" was given by the early Saxons to a festival 
in honor of the goddess of spring, and some features of the com- 
mon celebration may be traced to this Teutonic origin. There 
seems, however, a peculiar fitness of the natural springtime revival, 
with its flowers and fresh green, to accompany the revival of Christ, 
or the celebration of it, and the spiritual revival of which he is the 
source. 

The early Christians celebrated Easter with solemn and joyous 
services; it was a day of unalloyed Christian gladness; and while 
there was no requirement given by Christ or the apostles, the day 
has been gladly observed by the church in all ages. The Roman 
Catholic, Greek, and Protestant Episcopal churches make it a mat- 
ter of ecclesiastical rule, and the non-liturgical churches more and 
more universally enter into its celebration. I is said that in some 
parts of the Greek Church friends meeting on faster morning usually 
greet each other with the words, " TheLord is risen ! " To which 
the customary answer is : " He is risen indeed ! " In all Christian 
lands churches of every name on that day are specially adorned with 
flowers and other emblems of life and hope, and their worship is 
enriched with songs and anthems of triumphant faith. 

93 



94 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 



SOME EASTER CERTAINTIES. 

E. P. GOODWIN, D.D., FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 
CHICAGO. 

These are days of doubt. Opinions, theories, beliefs, 
creeds, seem to be in a kind of flux. Political economy, with 
its sharp and bitter antagonism as to home rule and tariff 
and silver and the rights of labor, seems to be anything but 
a science. The claims of the church of Christ, even as a 
divine and fixed institution, are assailed, and new substitutes 
are already proposed to take its place. Is anything certain ? 
Can we cast anchor anywhere and hold fast in spite of tem- 
pest and tide ? 

This Easter-time makes positive and emphatic answer. The 
resurrection of Jesus Christ is a certainty. If any fact, not 
merely of Christianity, but of history, stands on an impreg- 
nable foundation, this does. But it does not stand alone. It 
sets a like seal of certainty upon the whole system of teach- 
ings of which it is the great center and heart. Obviously as 
a matter of credibility the greater includes the less. If the 
witness of Scripture is true as to such an event — seemingly the 
mosu irrational and improbable of all the events of this gospel 
record — it is all the more true as to the occurrences or teach- 
ings which put a less tax on belief. This single fact, there- 
fore, attested by this empty tomb, is the guaranty of the truth 
of every vital doctrine of Christianity. The Spirit of God no 
more inspired this record than he inspired every other. His 
testimony as to the resurrection of our Lord is no more true, 
no more authoritative, than his testimony as to every act and 
teaching of our Lord. If his witness cannot be impugned 
here it cannot be impugned anywhere. And so I repeat, this 
Easter-time plants us upon an immovable foundation of cer- 
tainties. Not myths nor fables nor allegories nor shrewd 
guesses nor deductions of human logic constitute our faith. 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 95 

We know what we believe : the divine, infallible truths certi- 
fied to us by the Spirit of God. 

But let us note some of the particular truths guaranteed 
here which should bring cheer to all believers : 

i. The resurrection of Christ gives absolute assurance of the 
forgiveness of sin. Many disciples are puzzled and clouded 
with doubt and fear as to this. They know they have sin- 
cerely accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour ; but they are con- 
scious of many shortcomings, of having to keep up a steady 
and hard fight against the foes that lurk in the flesh, and have 
hence more or less of fear lest they fail of getting within the 
crystal gate. But all this apprehension is swept away by this 
blessed truth. For all who truly accept Christ as Saviour 
were crucified and buried and raised up with him, and are 
now leading a resurrection life — are, in fact, sharing his, hav- 
ing a life hid with Christ in God (Rom. vi. 6; Col. ii. 12; 
iii. 1-3). Whoever, therefore, is a true believer has of neces- 
sity an indefeasible hope, an absolute certainty of salvation. 
He shares the resurrection of Christ. His sins are as abso- 
lutely buried out of God's sight as the body of Christ was 
buried in the tomb from the light of day. They can no more 
touch and spoil his hope than they can touch and condemn 
the risen Lord. All true children of God are now, because of 
his resurrection, wholly and forever justified, assured abso- 
lutely that they are now heirs of God and joint heirs with 
Jesus Christ, and waiting only for the day of full and final de- 
liverance and glorification (Rom. viii. 16, 17, 29, 30; Eph. i. 
3-7)- 

2. So does this Easter- time certify the literal and glorious 
resurrection of the body. Many seem disposed to dissolve 
away the literalness of the gospel story in its application, and 
make the believer's resurrection merely the entering upon a 
higher spiritual state of being. But this is to misread and 
misapply Scripture. When Jesus Christ came from the tomb 
of Joseph he came forth as the first-fruits of them that slept. 
As is the first-fruits so will be the harvest. He rose with a 



96 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

literal body, a body that was seen, handled, identified as real. 
With that body he ascended to the right hand of the Father. 
Paul saw him there with it, and held converse with him. So 
did John, and felt the touch of his blessed right hand. In 
that body he is now our advocate and intercessor as the man 
that continueth ever, with that body. He will come again 
and be recognized by the scars of crucifixion he still wears. 

This Easter-time brings us the assurance that when he comes 
and shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of 
the archangel and with the trump of God, believers who sleep 
in Christ and those then living will be caught up together 
to meet him in the air, and all will be, as in the twinkling of 
an eye, transformed and transfigured and possessed of bodies 
as perfect and as glorious as his own, and in these glorious 
and resplendent bodies we shall reign and rejoice forever 
(i Thess. iv. 13—17 ; Phil. hi. 20, 21 ; Rev. hi. 21). 

3. So, too, Easter certifies to us the reality of heaven and 
its fellowships. The risen body of the Lord must needs have 
a local abiding-place. So likewise the glorified bodies of 
Enoch, Moses, and Elijah. The Scriptures everywhere agree 
with this, representing heaven always as a place, the abode of 
God and of visible and celestially embodied angels, the home 
of the just made perfect, where the city of God, prepared for 
them that love him, is in waiting. ' For the believer to die is 
to depart and be with Christ ; is, hence, not only to share the 
glory of his presence, but the fellowship of all the righteous 
dead. 

We greatly need the cheer of this precious Easter truth. 
We make too little of the place our Lord has gone to prepare 
for us. We rob ourselves greatly when we try to reduce 
heaven to a mere state of ecstatic feeling. We need the cheer 
which comes of having the eye of faith fixed on the better 
country and the city that hath the foundations. Such a cer- 
tainty of an inheritance that is real and that cannot fade away 
goes far to mitigate the pangs which come of the fires and 
floods and disasters and frauds whtch so often despoil God's 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 97 

people of their earthly possessions ; for we know that the 
things seen are temporal, but the things not seen are eternal, 
and they are only a few heart-beats away. 

But best of all is the assurance of the fellowship in store 
for us with those dear to our hearts and gone before. Many 
seem to doubt this, but, as I think, without reason. If all the 
host of heaven burst into song when the Son of God took 
upon himself our humanity and became the Babe of Bethle- 
hem, past question they welcomed his return to heaven, after 
his redemptive work was finished, with mighty halleluiahs. 
Gabriel was there, and Michael, and the innumerable com- 
pany of the angels ; so, doubtless, were Enoch and Noah and 
Abraham and Jacob and Moses and David and Elijah and 
Isaiah and Daniel, and a throng of the ransomed that no man 
could number. And they all knew him, and, as I believe, 
knew one another. Moses and Elijah had found each other 
out before they met on the Mount of Transfiguration. John 
the Baptist could hardly have failed to know David and 
Isaiah, whose prophetic words had kindled the fire in his own 
soul. And by a common intuition all the heirs of faith must 
have known the father of the faithful — Abraham. It is sim- 
ply inconceivable that the vast company of the blessed should 
gather around Him whom it is their highest joy to worship, 
and yet while they stand side by side, and lift their songs, 
should be ignorant of one another's personality. No. As they 
know their Lord, so do they know one another ; and so shall 
we. This open tomb, these open skies, ought to make heaven 
and its companionships more real and attractive and helpful 
to us. We know he is yonder, on the throne. We know that 
our beloved are in his presence and are sharers of his joy. 
Let us also k?ww that he and they are ready with their wel- 
comes for us when God's hour of the home-going shall come, 
and meantime, no doubt, name our names in converse, and 
possibly in prayer, and cherish undimmed the affection that 
made our earthly homes have sweet foretastes of heaven. 

4. Once more, this Easter-time makes certain the final com- 



98 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

ing and triumph of the kingdom. In human affairs the cer- 
tainties as to the future are few. What the map of Europe 
will be a decade hence, what the future of any kingdom or 
nation on the face of the earth a century hence, no sage is 
wise enough to predict. Diplomacy, gunpowder, dynamite, 
ironclads, have many secrets yet untold ; but these are grave 
map-makers. 

Not so here. We who left our glad songs over this rolled- 
away stone and empty tomb do not theorize nor guess. We 
know what the future has in store. We stand here with the 
absolute certainty possessing our hearts that the kingdom of 
our Lord will come. And we know it, not because the conti- 
nents are being threaded with railroads and lines of telegraph ; 
not because printing-presses and libraries and art galleries and 
colleges and theological seminaries are multiplying ; not, in a 
word, because civilization is achieving fresh victories and giv- 
ing token of what shall be. Not at all. Civilization in its 
spirit, apart from Christianity, is just as selfish and conscience- 
less and godless as it ever was in the height of Egyptian or 
Grecian or Roman culture. Our certainty gets its guaranty 
from this risen Christ. He who burst the bars of death was 
thereby declared to be the Son of God with power. Since the 
resurrection morning there has never been — there could not 
be — the slightest question as to his final rulership of the world. 
Death was conquered, Satan was conquered, and He pro- 
claimed the wearer of the name above every name. His final 
triumph was hence merely a question of the fullness of time. 
And he is now seated at the right hand of the Father, from 
henceforth expecting till his enemies are made his footstool. 
This Easter morning certifies us of that approaching day, and 
with, as it were, the foregleams of its glory on our faces and 
the stirrings of its mighty joy in our hearts, bids us watch and 
pray and look for the coming of the King. 

Independent. 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 99 

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 

BISHOP SAMUEL FALLOWS, D.D. 

Make clear the fact of Christ's resurrection, and it will be 
a fact that chimes with humanity's unutterable longings and 
fits in as a keystone of the radiant arch of its hopes. Make 
clear that fact, and then as the meridian sun brings out in all 
their boldness the mountains, and in all their beauty the 
swarded valleys, faintly descried in the dim twilight, so does a 
risen Sun of righteousness bring out the hints and truths, the 
ideas and facts of Scripture, but dimly perceived before, and 
give them a controlling power over the intellect and a com- 
manding influence upon the practical life. Make clear that 
fact, and one simple-minded believer, full of resurrection power, 
shall chase a thousand carping rationalists, and two shall put 
ten thousand to flight. 

Our faith in God asks of him a risen Redeemer, and the 
faith is answered in a Saviour raised from the dead. 

St. Paul unhesitatingly states, " If Christ be not risen, then 
is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." So inter- 
woven with the very life and teachings and death of Christ 
was the truth of his resurrection that to deny it would be to 
destroy all faith in him as Teacher and Redeemer. He him- 
self had said, " Destroy this temple, and in three days I will 
raise it again." After the surpassing glory of the transfigura- 
tion he had commanded his disciples to " tell the vision to no 
man, until the Son of man be risen from the dead." Had he 
not risen from the grave he must have been either uncon- 
sciously deceived — and then he would have shown himself a 
weak, erring mortal, and thus no longer entitled to the claim 
of a teacher sent from God — or he must have been a wilful 
impostor, and thus have sunk in the mire, to be trodden be- 
neath the feet of indignant, deluded men. If Christ be not 
risen, all faith in him as a Saviour is vain. " Ye are yet in 

tore. 



100 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

your sins," says the Apostle. That is, no atonement has been 
made. The Christian consciousness is a nullity and a lie. 

St. Paul further asserts, " If Christ be not raised from the 
dead, we are found false witnesses." As if he had said: 
" Such a thing is an impossibility. By reason of our numbers 
we ought to be believed. There are the eleven apostles, the 
two Marys, Cleopas, the Seventy, and five hundred others be- 
sides. Nearly all these are living and ready to testify. We 
are fully competent to give evidence, as regards our powers of 
judgment and varied experience ; fully competent, from the 
opportunities we have enjoyed of knowing the facts to which 
we bear witness. We have seen the Saviour, some of us have 
known him intimately ; we have treasured up his words ; we 
have witnessed his miracles ; we knew he was crucified ; we 
went to the tomb, expecting to find his body there ; we saw 
him alive again ; we beheld his pierced hands and wounded 
side ; we heard the familiar voice ; we received our high com- 
mission ; we saw him ascend into glory. With his image 
stamped on our hearts we have gone forth to proclaim his 
great salvation. We have gained nothing from an earthly 
standpoint in so doing. On the contrary, the loss of every- 
thing that men hold most dear has come to us: the loss of 
friends, of home, of position, of reputation. We are made the 
filth and offscouring of the world ; we are made as a spectacle 
unto angels and to men. Stripes, bonds, imprisonment, and 
death in its most terrible forms are before us. ' To the lions ! 
to the lions ! ' will ring in our ears. Covered with pitch and 
set on fire, we shall light the streets of Rome by midnight. 
Surely if in this life only we hope in Christ, we are of all men 
most miserable." 

With what jubilant utterance the Apostle turns away from 
the loathsome impossibility he has presented, exclaiming, 
" Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first- 
fruits of them that slept " ! The irrefutable fact stands forth in 
all its glorious majesty and infinite sweep of meaning. " He 
was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justi- 






EASTER THOUGHTS. ioi 

fication." " If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord 
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised 
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." 

The gospel records must be torn to tatters and scattered 
with the rent sibylline leaves, nevermore to be gathered ; the 
whole colossal fabric of Christianity must have been built on 
an abyss ; the Head and Founder of the church must have 
been created by the church, before the fact of the resurrection 
can be disproved. 

Christ is risen from the dead, and thus his own words have 
been justified. Christ is risen from the dead, and thus God 
has given him the sign of his Messianic mission. The final 
and absolute seal of genuineness has been put on all his 
claims, and the indelible stamp of a divine authority upon all 
his teachings. The resurrection spans and binds the sacred 
Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. Christ is risen from 
the dead, and every promise of God is yea and amen in him. 
Christ is risen from the dead, and an unsetting sun — the new 
and unfailing center of attraction — has burst forth in glory 
from the darkness of the tomb. Christ is risen, and we, too, 
who believe in him shall rise. Every charnel-house has been 
deprived of its terrors. The sting has been plucked from 
death, and the grave robbed of its victory. The shadows 
and the gloom have forever passed away. // is morning. 

Episcopal Recorder, 



THE LIVING WITNESSES OF THE RESURREC- 
TION. 

BISHOP E. R. HENDRIX, D.D., LL.D., OF THE METHODIST EPIS- 
COPAL CHURCH, SOUTH, KANSAS CITY, MO. 

In Paul's day there were more than two hundred and fifty 
living witnesses of the resurrection, being the greater part of 
the " above five hundred brethren " to whom Christ had ap- 



102 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

peared at once. What interest must have attached to the 
disciples who had this' qualification, even of an apostle, that 
they had seen the Lord! How great must have been their 
influence who could say with Peter, on the day of Pentecost, 
"This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all wit- 
nesses"! Whatever had been their doubts on the subject of 
the resurrection before, it now seemed a matter of course, 
nay, even of necessity, for they deemed that " it was not pos- 
sible that Christ should be holden of death." There had 
come with the resurrection such a new sense of his divinity, 
he having been " declared the Son of God with power, accord- 
ing to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead," 
that henceforth all things are possible to him who had power 
to lay down his life and power to take it up again. All other 
themes are secondary now to Jesus and the resurrection. In 
fact, so frequent was the reference to the resurrection that 
A?iastasis seemed to some of the heathen the name of a new 
god whom the Christians worshiped. It was their fidelity 
as witnesses of the resurrection that added numberless con- 
verts to the apostolic church, and gave to the faithful witnesses 
the fame of men who had turned the world upside down. 
Whatever else seemed to be their theme this great truth 
emerged before they had finished their discourse. They over- 
came by the word of their testimony, and that testimony was 
to the resurrection. 

There is doubtless a marvelous increase of strength which 
comes to all who know the power of the resurrection, its real 
significance, its immense and widening influence, which makes 
such believers the living witnesses of the resurrection. Those 
who grasp firmly this truth seem to have little trouble in 
apprehending any and all other of the doctrines of our holy 
religion. May this not have been the reason why our Lord 
enjoined silence about some of his miracles and even about 
his transfiguration until " after the Son of man be risen from 
the dead"? He did not attempt to preach doctrines until 
after he had given, in his passion, resurrection, and ascension, 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 103 

the great facts which are the basis of all doctrinal preaching. 
All other teaching was preparatory to the great event which 
was to explain all. Lacking a belief in the resurrection, even 
an apostle like Thomas was unfit to preach anything, all the 
earlier teaching of Christ seeming to mean nothing and to be 
shorn of power to bless unless illumined and confirmed by the 
resurrection. Could there, indeed, be a moral government of 
the world when the innocent Christ remained unvindicated 
and seeing corruption in Joseph's tomb in the garden ? Who 
dare preach truth when the Truth is still buried, or life when 
the Prince of life is in the tomb ? If Christ be not risen, 
evil remains triumphant, and good has never been vindicated 
and cannot be. Who dare urge men to "be not overcome 
of evil, but overcome evil with good," when good sleeps in 
a dishonored and sealed sepulcher without hope of a resurrec- 
tion ? It is the witnesses of the resurrection in all the ages 
since that memorable first day of the week when the women 
came early to the empty tomb of our Lord who have been 
the very apostles of Christianity. 

The living witnesses of the resurrection are known by the 
proper estimate which they put upon their existence as des- 
tined to continue forever. A mere animal never takes the 
measure of its own life, nor looks on it as if from the outside 
as a whole. It has no future which it can map out or dispose 
of as if it were its own. The desire to live forever, to make 
progress in all that is good, is the mark of one who has known 
something of good in this life, and who knows that life means 
more than existence. "The more the spirit makes of itself, 
its powers and its resources, the more earnestly does it desire 
prolonged existence." It longs for existence that it may have 
life. Life and immortality are brought to light by the higher 
and holy nature of the risen Christ, who shows the meaning 
and possibilities of life, and awakens in all responsive natures 
a desire to live. Every Christian life becomes thus a witness 
of the resurrection. Its very possibility in a world of evil is 
due to a living Saviour. " Because I live, ye shall live also." 



104 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Godliness is of supernatural origin, " having promise of the 
life which now is, and of that which is to come." " For to 
this end we labor and strive, because we have our hope set 
on the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of 
them that believe." Hope dies if Christ be not risen ; but 
hope lives, because " now is Christ risen from the dead, and 
become the first-fruits of them that slept." 

All new power of service, all revived activity, whether mis- 
sionary or philanthropic, are witnesses of the resurrection. It 
is a humanity destined to live forever, and whose future is 
made certain by the empty sepulcher of our Lord, which is 
worth laboring for. The mighty argument for the resurrec- 
tion ever closes with the exhortation sounding in the Christian 
consciousness of whatever age : " Wherefore, be ye steadfast, 
unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, foras- 
much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." 
No church can be holden of death if the living Christ be in 
her. He is the Giver, the Fountain, the Source of life, a life 
that sweeps temples of money-changers and formalists. It is 
he who makes the very benevolences of the church, her quick- 
ened intellectual life and power of achievement, as well as her 
praises, witnesses of his resurrection ; and his empty tomb in- 
spires the song: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to re- 
ceive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, 
and glory, and blessing." 

All Christian worship is a witness of the resurrection of Him 
who liveth for ever and ever. Because he lives, " now abideth 
faith, hope, charity." Independent. 



THE RESURRECTION. 

REV. LYMAN ABBOTT, D.D. 

The resurrection of Jesus Christ does not seem to me the 
stupendous and incredible event it does to many. It tran- 
scends, but does not contradict ; anticipates, but does not con- 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 105 

travene, human experience. Without here attempting to dis- 
cuss the reasonableness of Christian faith, I simply try to state 
it in an intelligible form, in order to recall from the. realm of 
legend into the realm of history the story of the resurrection. 

It is the Christian belief that man is both body and spirit. 
The body is the organ ; the spirit is the player on the organ. 
When he pushes in the stops, and locks the instrument, he 
does not cease to be. The music remains to him, though he 
has ceased to express it audibly through keys and pipes. 
Looking down into the eyes which look up appealingly or 
confidently into hers, the mother sees a soul looking through 
them, and in the mutual glance soul touches soul. Closer 
than words can bring us is the intercommunion of heart with 
heart in moments of most expressive silence, when not even 
a glance of the eye or a pressure of the hand is needed as in- 
terpreter. Science may not be able to explain these experi- 
ences of the invisible life, but in vain it denies them. The 
poets bear witness to them, and the poets do not create ima- 
ginary words, but interpret a world that is real, though unseen. 
The truth of their interpretation is attested by a universal 
experience. 

Now what happens in what we call death is the separation 
of spirit and body. Science can neither define life nor death. 
We only know that this spirit withdraws and leaves the dwell- 
ing untenanted ; the musician stops playing, locks his instru- 
ment, and goes away ; the king abdicates his sovereignty over 
his earthly domain, and departs. And presently the kingdom, 
with no king on the throne, dissolves ; the organ, with no 
organist to play upon it, falls to pieces ; the tent, abandoned 
by its tenants, drops in hopeless ruin on the ground. But this 
affords no slightest reason for thinking that the king is dead, 
the organist is extinguished, the tenant has ceased to be. One 
may guess this, but guesswork is not science. We look into 
the eyes, and no soul looks out of them ; we clasp the hand, 
and no will answers with responsive clasp. But because the 
friend is not looking out of the window we do not conclude 



106 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

that he has ceased to exist. We look about us, as the last 
breath is drawn, and see no shadowy and ghostly presence; 
listen, and catch no faintest rustle or footfall. But it is no in- 
credible faith this, that there have been times in which the 
eyes generally holden have been able to see, the ears generally 
too dull have been quickened to hear. We Christians do not 
believe that Jesus Christ was the only one that ever rose from 
the dead. We believe that every death-bed is a resurrection ; 
that from every grave the stone is rolled away ; that by the 
side of every weeping wife stands the luminous figure of her 
loved companion, calling her by name, which she, alas! can- 
not hear. We wonder not so much that the disciples were 
permitted to see the true Christ emerging from the tabernacle 
in which he dwelt upon earth as that we are not all permitted 
to see the real and veritable soul when mere image and clayey 
statue lie speechless and motionless before us. The marvel 
is not that one resurrection was witnessed by many witnesses, 
but that every resurrection has not some visible appearance ; 
that in every so-called death-hour there are not some with 
spiritual vision keen enough to discover the spirit in its depar- 
ture from the empty habitation. The theologians have hotly 
discussed the question whether the body of Jesus which was 
buried in the tomb rose from the tomb, or whether the disci- 
ples saw the spiritual body released from its earthly habitation. 
As the question is one impossible to answer with certainty, so 
it is one not important to answer. Comparing the gospel 
narratives, something can be said for either hypothesis. But 
whether the spirit returned to the habitation which it had for 
a season left, and made Use of it to attest the truth that life is 
immortal, though the body is not, or whether the disciples 
were given liberty to see in visible and tangible form the 
spiritual body which is generally concealed from our gross 
sense, is a matter of small importance. The one significant 
fact is that the resurrection which takes place at every death 
has been once attested by witnesses permitted to have sensible 
evidence of that which is evident to most of us, if at all, by 



EASTER Til OEG I ITS. 107 

experiences which defy criticism and analysis, and so tran- 
scend explanation and interpretation. I am scarcely less cer- 
tain that some years after my mother's death I was influenced 
by her spiritual presence than I am that I have in latter years 
been influenced by persons corporeally present ; but if one 
serenely and scornfully skeptical asks me for a demonstration 
of my faith I should only answer him that the evidence is in 
my own experience, and that I neither can share it with him 
nor desire to do so. 

This, then, is the doctrine of the resurrection. We do not 
believe — at least I do not — that law has been rudely violated 
in one extraordinary and unparalleled episode. We believe 
that a universal law of life, overmastering death, and always 
superior to it, has had once a visible witness. 

Jesus is dead. Of this the disciples can have no doubt. 
They have seen him led away to crucifixion. One at least of 
their number has seen the spear thrust into the side, and the 
telltale flood of blood and water pouring forth. The body 
has been laid away in the tomb, and the tomb sealed and 
guarded. But this death has slain more than Jesus. It has 
slain hope and faith. They had till the last believed he was 
the Messiah, come to ransom Israel; believed that by some 
miracle he would escape from the hands of his enemies and 
lead his followers to a victory which would be the more re- 
splendent because plucked from the jaws of death. And 
now they know not what to think — are overwhelmed, dazed, 
stunned. When they think of him they cannot think he de- 
ceived them, or that they were deceived in him. When they 
think of the end they know he cannot be the Messiah. As 
to the stories of his resurrection, they are women's tales — in- 
credible ; and yet did he not say something about rising from 
the dead ? The saying made little impression on them at the 
time, but now they try to recall his words and feed their fam- 
ished hope thereon. 

But they have no such anticipation of that resurrection as 
may serve to account for their creating honestly the story. 



108 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

We cannot, with Renan, regard the record as the production of 
an enthusiastic imagination and an ardent life without wholly 
disregarding — yes, even directly and positively repudiating — 
the testimony of the disciples to their own state of mind. 
They were utterly disheartened by his death, and had as little 
expectation of his resurrection as they had before of his 
crucifixion. When the women find the tomb empty they 
think it has been robbed. When they bring back to the dis- 
ciples the angel's message the report of the resurrection seems 
to the incredulous and despairing men as "idle words, and 
they believed them not." The two disciples to whom Christ 
discloses himself at Emmaus are thunderstruck by the appear- 
ance. Thomas refuses absolutely to believe without sensible 
demonstration. Their incredulity is so marked and stubborn 
that Christ more than once upbraids them for it. The fact 
of resurrection is not extraordinary ; it is in accord with what 
we who believe at all believe to be the uniform law of life — 
that death does not touch it. The witnesses to the resurrec- 
tion of Christ were unprejudiced, unexpectant, incredulous, 
and their honesty is not doubted even by skeptical criticism. 

To those of us, then, who believe in the spirit-world — a 
spirit-world which environs us and influences us, though 
through no interpretation of sight or sound — the story of the 
resurrection of Jesus Christ will seem no myth or legend, but 
itself an interpreter of experiences when our hearts have burned 
by the way under influences which we understood not, under 
the communion of a personality invisible but not unfelt, which 
came and went as mysteriously as this figure to the disciples 
in their walk to Emmaus. I do not enter upon any commen- 
tary on the simple gospel narrative. But he who reads this 
story as I have tried to interpret it will find in it an interpre- 
tation of those heavenly visitations when a Voice unheard and 
a Presence unseen has spoken comfort or strength or hope. 

The Pulpit 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 109 



THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE RISEN LORD 
TO THE ELEVEN. 

FROM A SERMON BY REV. C. H. SPURGEON. 

And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, etc. 
— Luke xxiv. 36-44. 

This is one of the most memorable of our Lord's many 
visits to his disciples after he had risen from the dead ; the 
fullest and most deliberate of all the manifestations, abound- 
ing beyond every other in "infallible proofs." It was the 
summing up of a series of proofs of the Lord's resurrection. 
There was the empty tomb and the grave-clothes left therein. 
Moreover, the holy women had been there, and had seen a 
vision of angels, who said that Jesus was alive. Magdalene 
had enjoyed a special interview. Peter and John had been 
into the empty tomb and had seen for themselves. The re- 
port was current that " the Lord was risen indeed, and had 
appeared unto Simon." They met together in their bewilder- 
ment : the eleven of them gathered, as I suppose, to a social 
meal, for Mark tells us that the Lord appeared unto them " as 
they sat at meat." It must have been very late in the day, 
but they were loath to part, and so kept together till midnight. 
While they were sitting at meat two brethren came in, who, 
even after the sun had set, had hastened back from Emmaus. 
These new-comers related how one who seemed a stranger 
had joined himself to them as they were walking from Jeru- 
salem, had talked with them in such a way that their hearts 
had been made to burn, and had made himself known unto 
them in the breaking of bread at the journey's end. They 
declared that it was the Lord who had thus appeared unto 
them, and, though they had intended to spend the night at 
Emmaus, they had hurried back to tell the marvelous news to 
the eleven. Hence the witness accumulated with great rapid- 
ity; it became more and more clear that Jesus had really 



HO THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION.. 

risen from the dead. But as yet the doubters were not con- 
vinced. 

Everything, however, was working up to one point ; the 
most unbelieving of them were being driven into a corner. 
They must doubt the truthfulness of Magdalene and the other 
saintly women ; they must question the veracity' of Simon ; 
they must reject the two newly arrived brethren, and charge 
them with telling idle tales; or else they must believe that 
Jesus was still alive, though they had seen him die upon the 
cross. At that moment the chief confirmation of all presented 
itself; for "Jesus himself stood in the midst of them." In 
the presence of one whose loving smile warmed their hearts 
their unbelief was destined to thaw and disappear. 

In this wonderful manifestation of our Lord to his apostles 
I notice three things worthy of our careful observation : first, 
this incident teaches us the certainty of the resurrection of 
our Lord; secondly, it shows us a little of the character of 
our risen Master ; and, thirdly, it gives certain hints as to the 
nature of our own resurrection when it shall be granted us. 

i. First, then, let us see here the certainty of our Lord's 
resurrection. We have often asserted, and we affirm it yet 
again, that no fact in history is better attested than the resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It must not be denied, 
by any who are willing to pay the slightest respect to the testi- 
mony of their fellow-men, that Jesus, who died upon the cross, 
and was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, did liter- 
ally rise again from the dead. 

Observe that when his person appeared in the room the 
first token that it was Jesus was his speech; they were to 
have the evidence of hearing ; he used the same speech. No 
sooner did he appear than he spoke. They must have recog- 
nized that charming voice. 

When Jesus came at last to talk to them about Moses and 
the prophets and the psalms, he was upon a favorite topic. 
Then the eleven might have nudged one another and whis- 
pered, " It is the Lord." Jesus had, in the later hours, been 



EASTER THOUGHTS. Ill 

continually pointing out the Scriptures which were being fulfilled 
in himself, and at this interview he repeated his former teaching. 

" They were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they 
had seen a spirit;" and thus they did exactly what they had 
done long before when he came to them walking on the 
waters. The Holy Spirit was not yet given, and therefore all 
that they had heard at the Last Supper, and seen in Geth- 
semane and at the cross, had not yet exercised its full influ- 
ence upon them ; they were still childish and unbelieving. 

They had received the evidence of their ears, and that is by 
no means weak evidence ; but now they are to have the evi- 
dence of sight; for the Saviour says to them, "Behold my 
hands and my feet, that it is I myself ;" " and when he had thus 
spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet." John says 
also " his side," which he specially noted because he had seen 
the piercing of that side, and the outflow of blood and water. 
These were the marks of the Lord Jesus by which his identity 
could be verified. Beyond this there was the general contour 
of his countenance, and the fashion of the whole man, by 
which they could discern him. His body, though now in a 
sense glorified, retained its former likeness ; they might per- 
ceive that the Lord was no longer subject to the pains and 
infirmities of our ordinary mortality — else his wounds had 
not been healed so soon — but yet there remained sure marks 
by which they knew that it was Jesus and no other. Their 
sight of the Lord was not a hasty glimpse, but a steady in- 
spection, for John in his First Epistle writes, " Which we have 
seen and looked upon." 

Furthermore, that they might be quite sure, the Lord in- 
vited them to receive the evidence of touch or feeling. He 
called them to a form of examination from which, I doubt 
not, many of them shrank ; he said, " Handle me, and see ; 
for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." 
The Saviour had not assumed a phantom body ; there was 
bone in it as well as flesh ; it was as substantial as ever. 

Still further to confirm the faith of the disciples, and to 



112 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

show them that their Lord had a real body, and not the mere 
form of one, he said, " Have ye here any meat ? And they 
gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of a honeycomb. And 
he took it, and did eat before them." 

2. Secondly, will you follow me while I very briefly set forth 
our Lord's character when risen from the dead ? ' 

What is he now that he hath quitted death and all that be- 
longs to it ? What is he now that he shall hunger no more, 
neither thirst any more ? He is much the same as he used to 
be ; indeed, he is altogether what he was, for he is " the same 
yesterday, to-day, and forever." 

Notice, first, that he is still anxious to create peace in the 
hearts of his people. No sooner did he make himself visible 
than he said, " Peace be unto you." 

Note, again, that he has not lost his habit of chiding un- 
belief and encouraging faith ; for as soon as he has risen, and 
speaks with his disciples, he asks them, " Why are ye troubled? 
and why do thoughts arise in your hearts ? " 

The next thing is that the risen Lord was still wonderfully 
patient, even as he had always been. He bore with their 
folly and infirmity ; for " while they yet believed not for joy, 
and wondered," he did not chide them. He discerned be- 
tween one unbelief and another, and he judged that the un- 
belief which grew out of wonder was not so blamable as that 
former unbelief which denied credible evidence. Instead of 
rebuke he gives confirmation. He says, " Have ye here any 
meat ? " and he takes a piece of broiled fish, and of a honey- 
comb, and eats it. Not that he needed food. His body 
could receive food, but it did not require it. Eating was his 
own sweet way of showing them that if he could he would 
solve all their questions. 

Observe that our Saviour, though he was risen from the 
dead, and therefore in a measure in his glory, entered into the 
fullest fellowship with his own. Peter tells us that they did 
eat and drink with him. In all ages eating and drinking with 
one another has been the most expressive token of commu- 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 1 13 

nion ; and so the Saviour seems to say to us to-day : " I have 
eaten with you, my people, since I have quitted the grave ; I 
have eaten with you through the eleven who represented you. 
I have eaten, and I will still eat with you, till we sit down 
together at the marriage supper of the Lamb." 

Let me call your attention to the fact that when Jesus had 
risen from the dead he was just as tender of Scripture as he 
was before his decease. Here, as if to crown all, he told 
them that "all things must be fulfilled, which were written in 
the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, con- 
cerning himself. And he opened their understanding, that they 
might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it 
is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise 
from the dead." " It is written " is his weapon against Satan, 
his argument against wicked men. 

Once again, our Saviour, after he had risen from the dead, 
showed that he was anxious for the salvation of men ; for it 
was at this interview that he breathed upon the apostles, and 
bade them receive the Holy Ghost, to fit them to go forth 
and preach the gospel to every creature. 

3. I would draw your attention, in the third place, to the 
light which is thrown by this incident upon the nature of our 
own resurrection. 

First, I gather from this text that our nature, our whole 
humanity, will be perfected at the day of the appearing of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when the dead shall be 
raised incorruptible, and we that may then be alive shall be 
changed. Jesus has redeemed not only our souls, but our 
bodies. When the Lord shall deliver his captive people out 
of the land of the enemy he will not leave a bone of one of 
them in the adversary's power. The dominion of death shall 
be utterly broken. 

I gather, next, that in the resurrection our nature will be full 
of peace. Jesus Christ would not have said, " Peace be unto 
you," if there had not been a deep peace within himself. He 
was calm and undisturbed. There was much peace about his 



114 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

whole life ; but after the resurrection his peace becomes very 
conspicuous. There is no striving with scribes and Pharisees, 
there is no battling with anybody, after our Lord is risen. 

When we rise again our nature will find its home amid the 
communion of saints. When the Lord Jesus Christ had risen 
again his first resort was the room where his disciples were 
gathered. His first evening was spent among the objects of 
his love. Even so, wherever we are we shall seek and find 
communion with the saints. 

In that day, beloved, when we shall rise again from the 
dead we shall remember the past. Do you not notice how 
the risen Saviour says, " These are words which I spake unto 
you while I was yet with you"? He had not forgotten his 
former state. I think Dr. Watts is right when he says that we 
shall " with transporting joys recount the labors of our feet." 

Observe that our Lord, after he had risen from the dead, 
was still full of the spirit of service, and therefore he called 
others out to go and preach the gospel, and he gave them the 
Spirit of God to help them. When you and I are risen from 
the dead we shall rise full of the spirit of service. 

If you have no share in the living Lord may God have 
mercy upon you ! If you have no share in Christ's rising 
from the dead then you will not be raised up in the likeness 
of his glorified body. If you do not attain to that resurrec- 
tion from among the dead then you must abide in death, with 
no prospect but that of a certain fearful looking for of judg- 
ment and of fiery indignation. Oh, look to Jesus, the Saviour! 
Only as you look to him can there be a happy future for you. 
God help you to do so at once, for his dear name's sake ! 
Amen. 

RESURRECTION. 

REV. I. M. HALDEMAN, WILMINGTON, DEL. 

Very little examination will show that the drift of the times 
is toward ethics rather than doctrine; toward essay rather 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 115 

than exposition ; a willingness to accept the natural instead 
of the spiritual ; to go down to the human plane instead of 
remaining on the divine; to preach reformation and not re- 
generation ; to teach the evolution of character from within 
and not the reception of divine life and character from with- 
out. The consequence is seen in the birth of new theologies 
— theologies which claim a wide liberalism, dignify human 
nature, invent new theories of death, and give us an escha- 
tology as startling as it is unscriptural. Once admit that human 
character by natural development may be brought into unity 
with God, and death becomes simply an experience — a transi- 
tion from lower to higher realms. With this conception of 
death resurrection is not a necessity nor a desire; and the 
end must be that this great, central, shining fact of the Chris- 
tian faith will be set aside. And more and more is this found 
to be true in the history of modern preaching. Rarely, if 
ever, is the story of the resurrection told, at least not as the 
vertebra of the sermon, not as the groundwork of hope. At 
the bedside of the dying it is not the consolation preponder- 
antly given ; and in the shadow of the grave it is not held out 
as the ultimate of the Christian faith. " Going to heaven," 
" Departing to be in glory," " Lifting up songs amid the re- 
deemed," " Entering into the unseen holy " — these are terms 
testifying of themselves as wide aberrations from the simple 
statements of the Word. 

It is therefore a matter for congratulation that this day of 
Easter is kept, centrally, by some of our churches ; and though 
fleshly fashion has much to do with the universality of its 
keeping it is nevertheless a matter of thanksgiving all the 
same, because it tends to keep before the minds of men the 
one great fact that otherwise would grow dim — the great fact 
that there has been a resurrection from the dead. 

That the resurrection is the main chord that vibrates the 
gladness in the gospel sound is self-evident. While it is true 
that it is good news that Christ died for our sins, that God 
will accept that brutal murder of his Son as a complete atone- 



n6 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION-. 

ment for any believing sinner, yet it is also true that this very 
death obtains its value to the sinner in that it was followed by 
the resurrection unto life ; and the sunshine of the whole story 
is that this man, once dead, is now alive. 

And this was the story that the men of old went out to tell : 
the story that a man had risen from the dead-; that the long 
black line of death had been interrupted ; that the dismal 
portals of the grave had been swung open twice — once to re- 
ceive the dead, but a second time that the dead might go forth 
again ; and that this resurrection was something more than a 
reviving ; it was a rising out of the hand and power of death, 
a living and eternal triumph above it. This story rang through 
the world with the clangor of a trumpet. We can hardly 
realize, at this distance, the impression it made upon a world 
sunken in the midnight of spiritual ignorance, standing above 
their dead with falling tears that had in them no rainbow- 
gleam of hope, and with hands outstretched and empty. It 
was this that aroused interest, that challenged opposition, that 
awakened hope, and that produced mockery. It was this that 
startled the Athenian idlers on the craggy heights of Mars 
Hill, and aroused them to laughter and contempt. So long 
as Paul spoke of the being of God, attacked their pantheism, 
and demolished their temple ideas, they listened. But when 
he spoke of a dead man coming out of the grave never to die 
again, they rose in revolt; not that they did not desire that it 
might be true, but it seemed so in the face of every reason, 
and so against all the long ages of hopeless hoping, that they 
set it aside at once as the vain dream of a wild fanatic or the 
weak babble of an idiotic fool. 

The truth, however, is the same to-day. The power of it is 
the same. The manifestation of it in the hearts of men may 
be, in a manner, different from of old, and yet even that is a 
question. Let the ministry of to-day go to dying men and 
women, and, heartily believing it themselves, set before them 
in the plainness of divine speech the fact that there is a Man 
in the heavens to-day ; a Man who was once dead, but is now 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 1 17 

alive forevermore. Preach the defeat of death and the triumph 
over the grave as historic facts ; preach it as the great middle 
truth, as the potent truth out of which all others of our faith 
flow forth ; keep it ever lifted up as the justification of all our 
best endeavors ; preach it as the one great thing that rails off 
the children of God from the children of death ; hold it out 
as the beacon across all the dark waters of time's tumult; 
throw it out in the face of human fears, and tell it increasingly 
with joy, " He is risen, he is risen," and men will be aroused 
and interested. It is too much to say that all will accept 
it; we know better than that. But whether they accept or 
whether they reject, they will alike be compelled to acknow- 
ledge its startling suggestiveness, and all will be held as by no 
other testimony mortal lips can tell. 

Here, indeed, is the great rock against which all false theo- 
ries, taking their rise in human pride, must shatter themselves 
hopelessly. For if resurrection tells anything it tells the finale 
of human effort. It tells that death has stricken down all 
human advance, all human development, and that here God 
has entered in and omnipotently done his work alone. Here 
human strength is epitaphed and the grace of God revealed. 
It is in the light of this great fact that any false standard of 
humanity must go down, even when that humanity borrows 
the fleshly life and earthly career of the Son of God as its 
pattern and example. The sublime Apostle tells us that though 
he once knew Christ after the flesh, yet now knows he him no 
more in that wise ; from henceforth he knows him only as a 
Risen Man. The Son of God on earth lived a life that was 
much a tragedy and all a poem ; a life filled with rare humane- 
ness and pure divineness; a life that revealed God in every 
lineament. But sweet and beautiful as that earthly life was it 
is not the exemplar of our lives, nor are we to be conformed 
to its pattern. It was a humanity that sorrowed and was 
weak, and had in it the possibilities of death. In the resur- 
rection from the dead he is the same Jesus, it is true, and yet 
more: he is the Risen Man ? the Immortal Man, the Second 



Il8 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Man, the Head and Type of the new and splendid race of 
deathless sons of God. Out of this great fountain-fact of the 
resurrection of Christ there outflow wondrous others; facts 
which supplement and glorify that resurrection from the dead. 
Chiefest of all is the sweet and tender truth that the " dead in 
Christ shall rise." The philosophy of it we do not know. It 
is not a philosophy; it is a fact — a fact divinely revealed. 
What a message this to deliver! One Son of God has risen 
from the dead ; others shall rise, and they shall rise like unto 
him. They shall be fashioned like unto his own glorious 
image. What a word is this to take to men who feel upon 
them already, amid the coming wrinkles and the throbs of 
pain, the outstretched hand of death ! Shall we speak to 
them of death, and entrance through it as by an opened door 
into a glorified spiritual state ; or shall we speak to them of 
death as indeed but "a light affliction, which is but for a mo- 
ment," and console them with the hope of a resurrection 
morning and the taking up of an embodied life in the garb of 
a humanity that shall never grow old or tired or sick ? 

What a word is this with which to stand in the house of 
the dead and speak to hearts that ache ; to say unto them : 
" You weep because death is here. Yes, death is an enemy 
in spite of flowers and garlands, but death is no longer an as- 
sured victor. The Son of Mary died and the Son of Mary 
lay in the tomb. But he is alive to-day, and, like him, your 
loved ones shall live again ; the same dear hearts, changed 
— how we know not, but changed only as we would wish 
them changed, and made beautiful beyond death forever." 

Let us speak to them, concerning the dead, that they are 
dwelling in the sunny, sunny land of heaven, filled with new 
and spirit ways, and we speak in a language that finds no 
echo in the soul bereaved ; nor is it the word and way of 
God. While it is true that the death of the saint is precious 
in the sight of the Lord, nevertheless he has bidden us com- 
fort one another with the blessed word that the dead shall rise 
again. But the story of the resurrection is not half told by 



EASTER THOUGHTS, 119 

halting here. Jesus rose ; the saints shall rise ; but Jesus him- 
self is coming to raise them, and the climax of thought is 
reached when, according to the Word, we stand upon it and 
say, "At any moment," in the flash of a second, our Lord 
may come and give life to the dead in his name. It is the 
picture at Bethany over again, multiplied until our vision is 
filled. His friends, like Lazarus, are asleep to-day; in every 
land, in every clime, on heath and on mountain-height, in 
lonely cairn and beneath the deep, dark sea. But he is com- 
ing, as he came to the little village. He is coming that he 
may wake them out of sleep and bring them forth, like Laza- 
rus, to sit down to the splendid feast amid their friends and 
with him. As Israel stood this side Jordan and waited but 
the trumpet-sound to go over into the land long promised, so 
the church waits this side Jordan, this side judgment. Any 
moment the Master's voice may sound, and the saints of all 
ages, living and dead, shall be gathered home. Between us 
and our dead, whom w r e love and miss, there is but the sound 
of Jesus' voice. Any moment that voice may call out of 
heaven to us, saying, " Come up hither." 

What hope, what consolation ! It is a door held ajar, 
through which the morning of an immortal day is already flash- 
ing its golden sunlight upon a land of death. It is a voice 
saying even now, " Fear not ; I am he that was dead ; and, 
behold, I am alive forevermore, and have the power over 
death and the grave." 

Let us keep the Easter, then, if Jesus tarries, with sweet 
flowers and glad song. Let us robe our churches in the fra- 
grance of a year just awaking from the deathlike sleep of winter. 
Let us hang the lily-whiteness around table and pulpit and 
desk, and in our homes. Let all the jubilant sounds of earth 
swing up in one resonant wave of triumphant song. Let us 
robe ourselves in the sunny gladness of a hope so bright — the 
hope that defies death, and reaches across all the breadth of 
graves, and clasps the hand of an immortal friend, and says 
through any hour of sorrow, " It doth not yet appear what we 



120 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

shall be : but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be 
like him " — waking or sleeping, for, waking or sleeping, we 
are the Lord's ; and while it thus chants its faith, hears, rising 
slow and sweet, and with an olden pathos, out of the deeps 
of ancient days, the quenchless faith of a twilight child of God : 
" I know that my Redeemer liveth : . . . and though after my 
skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." 

Episcopal Recorder. 



THE RESURRECTION MIRACLE. 

REV. ANDREW BONAR, D.D. 

The special sign which pointed out Jesus of Nazareth as 
the Son of God — the Messiah — was resurrection. This was 
the miracle of miracles, containing in it more of the directly 
supernatural than all his wondrous deeds. It towered above 
the rest, so that he who accepted it would find no difficulty 
in accepting the others, and he who rejected it was not likely 
to receive any. It was a moral as well as a physical sign, for 
it was the grand reversal of the old penalty, the divine arrest- 
ment of the primeval law : " In the day that thou eatest there- 
of thou shalt surely die." That stupendous act of reversal or 
arrestment could only be accomplished " through the blood of 
the everlasting covenant " ; and that it took place in the per- 
son of Him who was bearing our sins demonstrates the great- 
ness of the power put forth and the greatness of the obstacles 
to overcome. That resurrection of our great Substitute, who 
went down to the grave under the weight of our sins, was the 
manifestation of the power of God to an extent and in a way 
such as no other sign could be. 

A Jew regarded resurrection as the most supernatural of all 
events, the most unambiguous of all miracles. A man who 
had come up out of the grave, who had conquered death, was 
looked upon with mysterious awe as one connected with a 
world outside of us — as one who had communication with God 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 12 1 

himself. It was with this feeling of wonder and terror that 
the Jews flocked to Bethany, " not for Jesus' sake only, but 
that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from 
the dead." And when they asked a sign from heaven in proof 
of the claims of Jesus to be the Messiah the Lord answered, 
" An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign ; and 
there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet 
Jonas " — that is, resurrection. Resurrection from the dead by 
the power of the Father was to be the great, and final seal to 
his Messiahship. It was the mighty voice from the excellent 
glory : " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 

It was this solemn idea of resurrection that alarmed even 
the unbelieving Jews. For it was to them not only a truth, 
but truth of so stupendous a character as to be sufficient to 
demonstrate the divine mission of any one who could plead it. 
He who could go forth as a risen man to proclaim certain 
doctrines would carry all before him. Hence the dread of 
the scribes and Pharisees as to the resurrection of Christ, and 
their determination to prevent its being made use of in the 
propagation of the new faith. For three years and a half the 
miracles of Jesus of Nazareth had troubled and exasperated 
them ; and now there is the fear of something worse than all 
these, something more fatal to their pretensions : the miracle 
of miracles — resurrection. The news of his birth troubled 
Jerusalem, and now the rumor of the resurrection troubled it 
again. Both in his birth and resurrection he is the troubler 
of the city. Its citizens are alarmed. Conscience has made 
cowards of them all. " We remember," say the chief priests 
to Pilate, "that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, 
After three days I will rise again." They were greatly afraid, 
and their fears all turned upon the thought of his resurrection. 
Whence arose their alarm ? How did they connect the possi- 
bility of this resurrection with the overthrow of their triumph 
and with the demonstration that he was the Messiah of Israel 
and Son of God ? 

Resurrection, real or feigned, was an alarming possibility to 



122 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

them. They were quite aware of the power which such an 
event would impart to one calling himself a prophet. They 
were not Sadducees, nor disbelievers in miracles, nor deniers 
of the supernatural. His own words seem to have haunted 
them: "After three days I will rise again" — especially as it 
was in connection with this assertion of his that his condem- 
nation was accomplished. They had denied him and his mis- 
sion, but evidently the question had been recurring in their 
minds, "What if it be true, after all ? " For the truth, even 
when rejected, has this mysterious power (which error has not) 
of rising up in the conscience and perturbing it with the thought 
of unjust rejection. It was this dread of resurrection that 
drew forth, in the presence of the judges by whom he had 
been condemned, these words of dark misgiving: "The last 
imposture shall be worse than the first." To have to deal 
with a man who was said to work miracles was arduous enough, 
but to have to face one who was said to have risen from the 
dead was something more serious. 

The name of " martyr " has always been one of power in 
behalf of any doctrine or system or sect. "He has died for 
his faith." But a risen martyr is something greater ; and what 
a terror to his murderers would he be ! No wonder that the 
priests trembled at the thought or bare possibility that Jesus of 
Nazareth had risen ! The Quiver. 

THE LOGIC OF EASTER. 

REV. GEORGE C. LORIMER, D.D. 

And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith 
is also vain. ... If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of 
all men most miserable. ... If after the manner of men I have fought 
with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not ? let 
us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die. — I Cor. xv. 14, 19, 32. 

Paul's logic on this subject is very striking. He holds the 
Corinthians strictly to the inevitable and unavoidable state of 
things that exist if Christ has not risen from the dead. If he 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 123 

has not risen, then faith is vain, there is no pardon for sins, no 
hope of immortal blessedness, and no advantage in living a 
self-sacrificing life, exposed to persecution and to encounters 
with the wild beasts of the Ephesian amphitheater. In other 
words, Christianity is out and out a delusion, a snare, and a 
failure if the Lord has not, in reality, risen conqueror over 
death ; and they who profess it are deceiving themselves and 
are of all men most miserable. It is this logic — which prop- 
erly may be termed the logic of Easter — that I desire to follow 
and apply to guard you against compromise and surrender, 
and to render more real to your mind and more precious to 
your heart the resurrection of Christ. 

1. If Christ be not risen from the dead, then vain is the 
Christian's faith. In this hypothesis we who trust him are not 
pardoned, we are not justified ; and what is worse, by our stub- 
born error we have excluded ourselves from veritable means 
that may exist somewhere for our spiritual rehabilitation. It 
might, I think, be shown that belief in him and in his deliver- 
ance from the grave has influenced thousands to break away 
from iniquity, and that this effect deserves to be considered 
as favorable to belief in the historical event that has proved 
morally so efficacious. But conceive of our deplorable con- 
dition, if sin is a reality and if we are to be judged for it, 
should we be trusting that to be our salvation which never 
had existence! Renan declares that Jesus was the greatest 
religious genius that ever lived ; and Strauss says that we know 
enough of him to be assured that his consciousness was un- 
clouded by the memory of any sin. But how can either view 
be held if he, after his solemn promises, has never risen from 
the dead ? 

Efforts have been made, by those who violently oppose the 
supernatural, to escape this dilemma by explaining our Lord's 
words in such a way as not to necessitate a literal resurrection. 
Keim supposes that the apostles had visions of the glorified 
Jesus produced by himself, and that though the body remained 
in the tomb these appearances were, as he expresses it, a kind 



124 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

of telegram informing them that he yet lived. Renan's ex- 
planation of the subject is interesting: "At the moment in 
which Mahomet expired Omar rushed from the tent, sword in 
hand, and declared that he would hew down any one who 
should dare to say that the prophet was no more. . . . Heroes 
do not die. What is true existence but the recollection of us 
which survives in the hearts of those who love us ? For some 
years this adored Master had filled the little world by which 
he was surrounded with joy and hope ; could they consent to 
allow him to the decay of the tomb ? No ; he had lived so 
entirely in those who surrounded him that they could but 
affirm that after his death he was still living." In the histor- 
ical comparison in this account it is apparently forgotten that 
not one of the apostles insisted, as Omar did, that the Master 
was not dead. That sad fact they all admitted, and, indeed, 
they were slow to credit that he had been freed from the grave. 
They were not the sort of persons to be misled by such fancies 
and illusions as are favored by the French critic. 

No one has ever yet succeeded in resolving the narrative of 
this event into figure or myth, and failures in this direction go 
to prove that the evidence on which the event rests is unim- 
peachable. And if it is trustworthy, then Christianity rests on 
a sure foundation, and our faith is in no sense vain, but war- 
rantable and precious. 

2. If Christ be not risen from the dead, then vain is the 
Christian hope. This is the next logical inference from the 
premises of negation. If he rose not, then they which fell 
asleep in death have perished, and we only have hope for the 
life that now is. There is no evading the conclusion that Paul 
herein denies the reality of immortality, of a future existence 
to human beings, if Jesus has perished in an unrecognized 
tomb. If he has been abandoned to decay who shall presume 
that any individual infinitely his inferior shall survive ? And 
if his unending conscious being has not been attested by his 
personal and visible return from the unseen world, so as to 
demonstrate that such a world is not a delusion, who can have 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 125 

any confidence in its existence ? Immortality can only be 
justified by the argument of reason or the argument of fact. 

Men and women have frequently said that were one to re- 
turn from the dead they would believe in immortality. And 
our spiritual friends assert that they hold to this belief because 
they have this very evidence. Whatever may be thought of 
their proof, that which attests the resurrection of Jesus is ad- 
mitted to be conclusive by the most competent judges, and we 
thus having the personal witness of One " who was dead, but 
is now alive forevermore," should doubt no longer. 

That his readers may be impressed with the terrible conse- 
quences of rejecting the resurrection of Christ, the author of the 
First Epistle to the Corinthians, in this connection, declares that 
if they and we have only hope for this life, " we are of all men 
most miserable " ; and, presumably, the intensity of the misery 
ought to influence us to admit as true that great event which 
is its only sufficient remedy. Can we count that man happy 
who measures his existence by time and anticipates no life 
beyond ? To accumulate a vast estate and to leave behind 
only a granite shaft in a cemetery — an exclamation-point in 
stone, expressing amazement that any human being could be 
content with so pitiable an ambition — is as reasonable a pur- 
suit as any other if there is nothing after death. 

Most miserable, not merely because they have advocated a 
false system, but because the rewards they expected and the 
immortality they anticipated for themselves and others have 
no place and no existence. The future suddenly grows black, 
threatening to engulf in oblivion all souls, when the religion 
of our Lord ceases to be a certainty. And this certainty is 
more than jeopardized when the resurrection of Christ is de- 
nied. Hope rises not if he rose not. There is not one in all 
this assembly but owns some quiet grassy spot rendered sacred 
by the dust of departed friends. Flowers spring up on these 
melancholy mounds, fit emblems, indeed, of our fragrant but 
evanescent desires and expectations. If Christ be not risen, 
then as these daisies and violets wither and are lost in the 



126 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

earth which they decorated with their beauty, so the hopes 
which they symbolized must be swallowed up and extinguished 
in the grave. The globe is either a charnel-house full of rot- 
tenness and dead men's bones, whirling through space among 
the cold, unpitying stars, and destined at last to happy extinc- 
tion, or it is a suburb of heaven, a natal chamber and nursery 
of eternity, a domain where life begins and can never end, 
and where life is prepared for transmigration through the birth- 
pangs of death into endless and glorified existence — one or 
the other ; and the proof that it is the latter and not the former 
is furnished by the forsaken sepulcher, where the angelic mes- 
senger stood and cried, " He is not here, but has risen, as he 
said." 

3. There is a final calamitous consequence to be considered : 
if Christ be not risen from the dead, then vain is the Chris- 
tian's life. " What advantageth it me ? " is the passionate and 
solemn inquiry of Paul. " What profit to expose my person, 
to endure shame, to contend with wild beasts and beastly men, 
if the dead rise not ? By these sacrifices I am not saving 
men, for there is no salvation ; and by this self-abnegation I 
am benefiting no one, for I am setting before all an erroneous 
ideal of happiness. If Christ rose not, then there is no im- 
mortality ; and if there is no immortality religion is a farce, 
and efforts to extend it, and particularly painful endeavors, are 
fruitless of real good. The true aim of life has been lost sight 
of : ' Let us eat and drink ; for to-morrow we die.' " From 
this it would seem that, in Paul's opinion, only one of two 
positions is tenable : either the doctrine of Christ or that of 
Epicurus. Strange as it may seem to you, these are the real 
rivals, and we, in the nature of things, become attached to one 
or the other. 

The system of the Greek philosopher was not at the begin- 
ning the sensual thing it became later on. Originally it taught 
"that the pleasure which produces no pain is to be sought; 
and that the pain which produces no pleasure is to be avoided. 
The pleasure is to be avoided which prevents a greater plea- 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 127 

sure or produces a greater pain ; the pain is to be endured 
which averts a greater pain or secures a greater pleasure." 
Epicurus himself was a man of comparatively blameless char- 
acter, and his principles are not to be confounded with those 
of the sensual Cyrenaic school. Horace was one of his fol- 
lowers, and Lucretius extolled him as one of the gods, declar- 
ing that while " Ceres gave men corn, and Bacchus wine, 
Epicurus gave to men the essentials of virtue." 

The view taken by this philosopher of death is thus ex- 
pressed : " Accustom yourself to the thought that death is in- 
different ; for all good and evil consist in feeling, and what is 
death but the privation of feeling ? " Harmless as these sen- 
timents may appear on the first reading, experience of their 
working proved that they tended in the long run toward dis- 
soluteness of conduct. Pleasure, even in the high and refined 
sense intended by their author, is not the end of existence, and 
cannot be pursued without resulting, as in the Roman empire, 
in debasing lasciviousness. Such a supreme purpose renders 
ridiculous the history of heroism and is irreconcilable with the 
idea of self-sacrifice. It obscures and even obliterates the 
conception of duty, or restricts it to the sole design of minis- 
tering to self-indulgence. 

The painful doubt yet remains as to whether it is wisely 
profitable to spend and be spent for others, and whether com- 
mon sense justifies sacrifices that are rarely appreciated and 
that are not demanded by a divine law which the Highest 
himself has honored and proved to be the unfailing condition 
of the purest and most permanent good. The resurrection of 
Jesus has shown that such a life is not in vain. Had he re- 
mained in the tomb not even his masterly beneficence would 
have given to him the power he has exerted for these twenty 
centuries. There would have been something lacking. The 
commanding majesty of his presence would have been less, 
and the authority of his word and example would not have 
been as absolute in influencing human thought and conduct. 
If this is doubted let the experiment be made of preaching a 



128 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

beautiful Christ who has perished like others ; and unless the 
hearers have already been drilled to reverence by what has 
been repeated about his resurrection, it will be found that 
while they may admire they will not be overawed by the im- 
perative authority of his career. 

But this self-denying Benefactor is thrust into a grave, and 
the life appears to have merely been a sweet poem in deeds, 
but forever deprived of power. On the third day he rose from 
the dead. That simple but sublime fact changes everything. 
The Almighty has affirmed by this tremendous event that he 
is on the side of self-sacrifice ; that he will always in the full- 
ness of time justify it; that it never can be fruitless; and that 
though its marvelous potency may be hidden in a tomb, not 
merely for three days, but for three centuries, it shall at last 
assert itself and prosper gloriously. Hence, in view of our 
Saviour's triumph, Paul was satisfied that it did advantage him 
to fight with beasts at Ephesus; and hence, likewise, as he 
closes his argument he waves forever Epicurean ideals out of 
court, exclaiming, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye 
steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the 
Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in 
the Lord." 



THE EFFECT OF THE RESURRECTION UPON 
THE CHARACTER OF PETER. 

EDWARD JUDSON, D.D., MEMORIAL BAPTIST CHURCH, 
NEW YORK CITY. 

We reason back from effects to causes. Given a certain 
effect there must be an adequate cause. Nothing but the re- 
ality of Christ's resurrection can account for the deep dent 
which he made upon human consciousness, the mighty change 
which he effected in the trend of the world's history. 

In a scientific age like ours it is difficult indeed to admit the 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 1 29 

possibility of supernatural intrusion. We are impatient of any 
break in the sublime continuity of natural processes. The 
Second Part of " Faust " fails to interest us, because it intro- 
duces so many supernatural characters. It is harder now than 
it used to be to believe that any man ever rose from the dead. 
We speak of death as that bourn from whence no traveler re- 
turns. The commonest men nowadays have historic imagina- 
tion and the power mentally to reproduce the distant past as 
if it were yesterday, and they resent miracle, or, as has been 
said, relegate it to the cathedral window. We no longer be- 
lieve in Christ because of his miracles, but we believe in mir- 
acles because we believe in Christ. Nor do I think that our 
reluctant acceptance of the supernatural has in itself anything 
inherently sinful. 

If truth slips through our fingers because of our trembling 
eagerness to grasp nothing but the truth, is that a sin ? Is 
such a soul to be put in the same category with the scribes 
and Pharisees of old, who, with the evidence of Christ's divin- 
ity before their very face and eyes, refused to do him homage 
because they hated him, because they loved darkness rather 
than light, their deeds being evil ? If we had known and 
loved Lazarus, if we had seen him die, if we had placed our 
hand against his cold, sunken cheek, if we had committed him 
to his sepulcher, and if, then, at the voice of Christ, we had 
seen him emerge, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes, no 
one could have convinced us that Christ had not raised him 
from the dead. But now we say, " It happened so very long 
ago." The reality of the event fades out, as a bird flying from 
us dwindles into a speck and at last disappears in the sky. It 
is hard nowadays to swing Christianity into the ordinary man's 
consciousness miracle-end to. We let that all go. We come 
to Christ ; we sit at his feet ; we accept the revelation which 
he makes, in his words and in his character, of the Fatherhood 
of God ; we try to shape our lives by his. And there gradu- 
ally forms in our minds a conviction of his divinity. The 
deeper we press into the secret of his unique personality the 



130 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

more credible become the records of his supernatural birth 
and his resurrection. The miracle would be that such a man 
should be born and should die like all the rest of us. Such 
truths cannot be demonstrated ; but the probability of them 
being established in the mind, we live according to them, and, 
little by little, we arrive at a certainty which amounts to a 
demonstration. 

We climb the mountain of truth, not on its precipitous side, 
but by gradual ascent. The ratio7iale of true discipleship is 
described in our Lord's own words : " I have manifested thy 
name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world : 
thine they were, and thou gavest them me ; and they have kept 
thy Word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever 
thou hast given me are of thee." How gradual the way by 
which these first disciples attained to the thought of our Lord's 
divinity ! First they belonged to God ; that is, they were 
lovers of the truth. Then God by his providence and Spirit 
brought them within the reach of Christ. Then Christ mani- 
fested to them God's name or character as a loving Father. 
Then they kept the Word ; that is, tried to live as if God were 
their Father. And then, as the ultimate achievement, they 
gained a glimmering conception of the divinity of Christ. Our 
best faiths do not come to us overnight ; they result from slow 
accretion. 

Now, nothing but the actual resurrection of Christ can ade- 
quately account for the events that followed his death, the 
change in the spirit and character of his disciples, and the 
consequent rise of Christianity. Every other theory breaks 
down ; and while the evidence from hearsay becomes weaker 
with the flight of years, the certainty which comes from rea- 
soning back from the effect to the cause is intensified through 
the lapse of time. The greater and more enduring the result 
the more real and transcendent seems the cause. As solid 
masonry gradually displaces trestlework in a railroad, so, while 
the supernatural events in the life of Christ grow shadowy and 
dim as we gaze at them through the many intervening years, 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 131 

yet we are reassured of their reality in a cumulative ratio as 
we behold the unfolding of their mighty effects in human his- 
tory — in the state, in the home, and in the individual life. 

Taking a single sample of the effects of the resurrection, it 
would be difficult indeed to account for Peter's subsequent 
character and conduct except on the ground that he had seen 
the risen Lord. We know nothing of the details of that first 
meeting between Christ and Peter after the resurrection. Paul 
alludes to it in the words, " He was seen of Cephas." When 
the two disciples returned from Emmaus they were told by the 
rest, " The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon." 
After Peter's shameful denial of Christ what tenderness and 
delicacy our Lord shows in granting him this interview apart 
from the other disciples ! He follows his own rule : "If thy 
brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault 
between thee and him alone." What a hallowing influence 
must this private interview with the risen Lord have had over 
the whole of Peter's after-life ! Timid before, chased by a 
driven leaf, fickle and impulsive as his own Galilean lake, like 
seafaring men easily scared by the supernatural, shrieking with 
terror as he beheld Christ walking on the waves, a raw recruit 
under fire taking to his heels in the garden without standing 
on the order of his going, turning white at the servant-girl's 
implicating question ; afterward, the man of rock, he trembles 
not when Christ predicts his martyrdom, he looks with stead- 
fast gaze into the hollow eyes of death, and challenges the 
sanhedrim in the blunt words, " Whether it be right in the sight 
of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye." 
Proud and self-willed before, frequently remonstrating with 
Christ, contradicting him, trying to manage him, quarreling 
for the first place at the table, walking on the sea so as to beat 
the rest, claiming that though all the rest should be offended 
he would never be offended ; afterward humbly saying, " Thou 
knowest all things [as much as to say, " I don't know any- 
thing "] ; thou knowest that I love thee." No longer is he 
the young fisherman, girding himself and walking whither he 



132 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

would, but the serious apostle, acquiescing in wholesome re- 
straints, carried, often against his own will, whither his Lord 
would have him go. Independent. 



THE SLEEPERS WAKENED. 

REV. T. DE WITT TALMAGE, D.D. 

Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them 
that slept. — i Cor. xv. 20. 

On this glorious Easter morning, amid the music and the 
flowers, I give you Christian salutation. This morning, Rus- 
sian meeting Russian on the streets of St. Petersburg hails him 
with the salutation, " Christ is risen ! " and is answered by his 
friend in salutation, " He is risen indeed! " In some parts of 
England and Ireland to this very day there is the superstition 
that on Easter morning the sun dances in the heavens ; and 
well may we forgive such a superstition which illustrates the 
fact that the natural world seems to sympathize with the spir- 
itual. 

Hail, Easter morning ! flowers, flowers ! All of them a- 
voice, all of them a-tongue, all of them full of speech to-day. 
I bend over one of the lilies and I hear it say, " Consider the 
lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do 
they spin : yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like 
one of these." I bend over a rose and it seems to whisper, 
" I am the Rose of Sharon." And then I stand and listen. 
From all sides there comes the chorus of flowers, saying, " If 
God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to- 
morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe 
you, O ye of little faith ? " Flowers, flowers ! Braid them 
into the bride's hair. Flowers, flowers ! Strew them over 
the graves of the dead, sweet prophecy of the resurrection. 
Flowers, flowers ! Twist them into a garland for my Lord 
Jesus on Easter morning. " Glory be to the Father, and to 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 133 

the Son, and to the Holy Ghost ; as it was in the beginning, 
is now, and ever shall be." 

Oh, how bright and how beautiful the flowers, and how 
much they make me think of Christ and his religion, that 
brightens our life, brightens our character, brightens society, 
brightens the church, brightens everything! You who go with 
gloomy countenance, pretending you are better than I am be- 
cause of your lugubriousness, you cannot cheat me. Pretty 
case you are for a man that professes to be more than a con- 
queror! It is not religion that makes you gloomy, it is the 
lack of it. There is just as much religion in a wedding as in 
a burial ; just as much religion in a smile as in a tear. Those 
gloomy Christians we sometimes see are the people to whom I 
like to lend money, for I never see them again ! The women 
came to the Saviour's tomb and they dropped spices all around 
the tomb, and those spices were the seed that began to grow, 
and from them came all the flowers of this Easter morn. The 
two angels robed in white took hold of the stone at the Sav- 
iour's tomb, and they hurled it with such force down the hill 
that it crushed in the door of the world's sepulcher, and the 
stark and the dead must come forth. I care not how labyrin- 
thine the mausoleum, or how costly the sarcophagus, or how- 
ever beautifully parterred the family grounds ; we want them 
all broken up by the Lord of the resurrection. They must 
come out. Father and mother — they must come out. Hus- 
band and wife — they must come out. Brother and sister — 
they must come out. Our darling children — they must come 
out. The eyes that we close with such trembling fingers must 
open again in the radiance of that morn. The arms we folded 
in dust must join ours in an embrace of reunion. The voice 
that was hushed in our dwelling must be retuned. Oh, how 
long some of you seem to be waiting — waiting for the resurrec- 
tion, waiting! And for these broken hearts to-day I make a 
soft, cool bandage out of Easter flowers. 

My friends, I find in the risen Christ a prophecy of our own 
resurrection, my text setting forth the idea that as Christ has 



134 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

risen so his people will rise. He is the first sheaf of the resur- 
rection harvest. He is " the first-fruits of them that slept." Be- 
fore I get through this morning I will walk through all the 
cemeteries of the dead, through all the country graveyards, 
where your loved ones are buried, and I will pluck off these 
flowers, and I will drop a sweet promise of the gospel — a rose 
of hope, a lily of joy — on every tomb — the child's tomb, the 
husband's tomb, the wife's tomb, the father's grave, the moth- 
er's grave ; and, while we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, 
we will at the same time celebrate the resurrection of all the 
good. Christ is " the first-fruits of them that slept." If I should 
come to you this morning and ask you for the names of 
the great conquerors of the world you would say, Alexander, 
Caesar, Philip, Napoleon I. Ah, my friends ! you have forgotten 
to mention the name of a greater conqueror than all these — a 
cruel, a ghastly conqueror. He rode on a black horse across 
Waterloo and Atlanta and Chalons, the bloody hoofs crushing 
the hearts of nations. It is the conqueror Death. 

He carries a black flag, and he takes no prisoners. He 
digs a trench across the hemispheres and fills it with the car- 
casses of nations. Fifty times would the world have been de- 
populated had not God kept making new generations. Fifty 
times the world would have swung lifeless through the air — 
no man on the mountain, no man on the sea — an abandoned 
ship plowing through immensity. Again and again has he 
done this work with all generations. He is a monarch as well 
as a conqueror ; his palace a sepulcher ; his fountains the fall- 
ing tears of a world. Blessed be God! in the light of this 
Easter morning I see the prophecy that his scepter shall be 
broken and his palace shall be demolished. The hour is com- 
ing when all who are in their graves shall come forth. Christ 
risen, we shall rise. Jesus is " the first-fruits of them that slept." 

Now around this doctrine of the resurrection there are a 
great many mysteries. You come to me this morning and 
say, " If the bodies of the dead are to be raised, how is this 
and how is that? " and you ask me a thousand questions I am 



EASTER THOUGHTS, 135 

incompetent to answer ; but there are a great many things you 
believe that you are not able to explain. You would be a very 
foolish man to say, " I won't believe anything I can't under- 
stand." 

Why, putting down one kind of flower-seed, comes there 
up this flower of this color ? Why, putting down another 
flower-seed, comes there up a flower of this color? One flower 
white, another flower yellow, another flower crimson. Why 
the difference when the seeds look to be very much alike — are 
very much alike ? Explain these things. Explain that wart 
on the finger. Explain why the oak-leaf is different from the 
leaf of the hickory. Tell me how the Lord Almighty can turn 
the chariot of his omnipotence on a rose-leaf. You ask me 
questions about the resurrection I cannot answer. I will ask you 
a thousand questions about every-day life you cannot answer. 

I find my strength in this passage : " All who are in their 
graves shall come forth." I do not pretend to make the ex- 
planation. You can go on and say: "Suppose a returned 
missionary dies in Brooklyn: when he was in China his foot 
was amputated ; he lived years after in England, and there 
he had an arm amputated ; he is buried to-day in Greenwood : 
in the resurrection will the foot come from China, will the arm 
come from England, and will the different parts of the body 
be reconstructed in the resurrection ? How is that possible? " 

You say that " the human body changes every seven years, 
and by seventy years of age a man has had ten bodies ; in the 
resurrection which will come up ? " You say, " A man will die 
and his body crumble into the dust, and that dust be taken up 
into the life of the vegetable ; an animal may eat the vegetable, 
men eat the animal; in the resurrection, that body distributed 
in so many directions, how shall it be gathered up ? " Have 
you any more questions of this style to ask ? Come on and 
ask them. I do not pretend to answer them. I fall back 
upon the announcement of God's Word : " All who are in their 
graves shall come forth." 

You have noticed, 1 suppose, in reading the story of the 



136 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

resurrection, that almost every account of the Bible gives the 
idea that the characteristic of that day will be a great sound. 
I do not know that it will be very loud, but I know it will be 
very penetrating. In the mausoleum where silence has reigned 
a thousand years that voice must penetrate. In the coral cave 
of the deep that voice must penetrate. Millions of spirits will 
come through the gates of eternity, and they will come to the 
tombs of the earth and they will cry, " Give us back our 
bodies ; we gave them to you in corruption, surrender them 
now in incorruption." Hundreds of spirits hovering about the 
crags of Gettysburg, for there the bodies are buried. A hun- 
dred thousand spirits coming to Greenwood, for there the 
bodies are buried, waiting for the reunion of body and soul. 

All along the sea-route from New York to Liverpool, at 
every few miles where a steamer went down, departed spirits 
coming back, hovering over the wave. There is where the 
" City of Boston " perished. Found at last. There is where 
the " President " perished. Steamer found at last. There is 
where the " Central America " went down. Spirits hovering 
— hundreds of spirits hovering, waiting for the reunion of body 
and soul. Out on the prairie a spirit alights. There is where 
a traveler died in the snow. Crash! goes Westminster Abbey, 
and the poets and orators come forth — wonderful mingling of 
good and bad. Crash! go the pyramids of Egypt, and the 
monarchs come forth. 

Who can sketch the scene ? I suppose that one moment 
before that general rising there will be an entire silence, save 
as you hear the grinding of a wheel or a clatter of the hoofs 
of a procession passing into the cemetery. Silence in all the 
caves of the earth. Silence on the side of the mountain. 
Silence down in the valleys and far out into the sea. Silence. 
But in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, as the archangel's 
trumpet comes pealing, rolling, crashing across mountain and 
ocean, the earth will give one terrific shudder, and the graves 
of the dead will heave like the waves of the sea, and Ostend 
and Sebastopol and Chalons will stalk forth in the lurid air, 



EASTER THOUGHTS, 137 

and the drowned will come up and wring out their wet locks 
above the billow, and all the land and all the sea become one 
moving mass of life ; all faces, all ages, all conditions gazing 
in one direction and upon one throne — the throne of resurrec- 
tion. " All who are in their graves shall come forth." 

" But," you say, " if this doctrine of the resurrection is true, 
as prefigured by this Easter morning, Christ ' the first-fruits of 
them that slept,' Christ's rising a promise and a prophecy of the 
rising of all his people, can you tell us something about the 
resurrected body ? " I can. There are mysteries about that, 
but I shall tell you some things in regard to the resurrected 
body that are beyond guessing and beybnd mistake. 

You need have no doubt in regard to your resurrected 
body that it will be a glorious body. The body we have now 
is a mere skeleton of what it would have been if sin had not 
marred and defaced it. Take the most exquisite statue that 
was ever made by an artist, and chip it here and chip it there 
with a chisel, and batter and bruise it here and there, and then 
stand it out in the storms of a hundred years, and the beauty 
would be gone. Well, the human body has been chipped and 
battered and bruised and damaged with the storms of thou- 
sands of years — the physical defects of other generations com- 
ing down from generation to generation, we inheriting the in- 
felicities of past generations ; but in the morning of the resur- 
rection the body will be adorned and beautified according to 
the original model. And there is no such difference between 
a gymnast and an emaciated wretch in a lazaretto as there 
will be a difference between our bodies as they are now and 
our resurrected forms. 

Nor can we doubt that it will be a perfect body. There 
you will see the perfect eye, after the waters of death have 
washed out the stains of tears and study. There you will 
see the perfect hand, after the knots of toil have been untied 
from the knuckles. There you will see the form erect and 
elastic, after the burdens have gone off the shoulder — the very 
life of God in the body. Christian Herald. 



138 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

THE SOUL'S EASTER. 

REV. THEODORE L. CUYLER, D.D. 

Among all the bright Sabbaths of the round year the bright- 
est is that which commemorates the most thrilling fact in the 
history of the human race— Christ's triumph over the power of 
death and the grave. Easter bells ring from church towers, 
Easter flowers make the house of God fragrant, and Easter 
hymns are pitched to the most jubilant key. All this is very 
beautiful and inspiring; but there are multitudes of people 
who profess and call themselves Christians who need some- 
thing more than flowers or songs or Easter sermons. _ Then- 
daily lives are not very joyous or vigorous; it is gasping for 
breath rather than a growth in grace. There is not much 
bloom or fragrance in their religion. Their spiritual pulse is 
low their spiritual joys are about as few and scanty as sun- 
shiny days are in Alaska. The most that they can honestly 
say for themselves is, "Well, I think that I was converted 
some time ago, and I am a member of the church, and I hope 
that I am a Christian." They are like the conies, "a feeble 
folk »_with little muscle in their faith, little ring in their de- 
votion, and little power in their influence on those around them. 
What these people need to have is a genuine Easter for their 

souls. 

i. The Easter message to them is: "If ye then be risen 
with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ 
sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things 
above, and not on things of the earth." We seldom get better 
things than we seek for; and you, my good friends, may be 
grubbing away— like Bunyan's man with his muck-rake— 
among the straws and rubbish while there is a crown in the 
air above you. What you need is first to look higher and 
then strive to live higher. Set your mind on something better 
than merely getting on in the world, and aim at getting ufr 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 139 

which is infinitely more important. Adding dollar to dollar 
in your income, or adding room to room in your dwelling, 
or round to round in the ladder of social promotion, is not 
the true mark of the prize for the Christian. There is a 
loftier realm of spiritual life — of which the risen Christ is the 
center — that you should strive to rise into. This need not 
make you a visionary or a sentimentalist, or any less a prac- 
tical, every-day Christian. You may make these every-day 
duties in your business, in your shop or study, in your home 
or elsewhere, the stages in your climb upward toward Jesus 
Christ. Dr. Maclaren has wisely said that " no man is so well 
able to perform the smallest duties here, or bear the passing 
trouble of this world of illusion and change, as he to whom 
everything on earth is dwarfed by the eternity beyond as a hut 
is dwarfed beside a palace — and is great because it is like a 
little window a foot square through which infinite depths of 
sky with all their stars shine in upon him." So you may make 
your every-day duties — even the simplest and the plainest — 
to be the rounds in that ladder by which you attain to " the 
things above." 

2. In order to attain this higher and stronger and sweeter 
and really happier life you must honestly desire to possess it. 
Sick and tired of being what you are, you must yearn for 
something better, and this must voice itself in prayer. Prob- 
ably you have done but little praying, especially in secret, and 
what you have done has been from the throat and not from 
the heart. If you want to be lifted into the warm, pure at- 
mosphere of fellowship with Christ you must use the wings of 
fervent prayer. Lay hold of the promises of divine strength. 
There is a prodigious lift in the prayer of faith. When I once 
kneeled beside Spurgeon at his family altar and heard him 
pour forth a most wonderful prayer, I discovered one of the 
secrets of his power. He was laying hold of God with what 
the old Scotch doorkeeper called "close grups." Then, my 
friend, seek those things that are above, strive in fervent prayer 
after them, and you may be sure that the risen Christ will 



140 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

manifest himself to you as he did to his disciples in the even- 
ing of that Easter Sabbath in Jerusalem. 

3. As you look searchingly into your own heart you will 
probably find that a great many besetting sins have found 
house-room there. A cleaning and clearing out is necessary 
if you would have the Master dwell there. You must make 
a fresh surrender of your heart to that loving Lord, and that 
will amount to a reconversio?i. Peter got such a reconversion, 
and what a different man it made of him! No more bragging 
and cowardly skulking now! Peter, after his baptism of the 
Holy Spirit at Pentecost, was as superior to the Peter in Pilate's 
courtyard as an athlete is to a sickly child. He had, indeed, 
risen into Christ — into a close and vital and victorious union 
with his Lord. It was a prodigious lift that hoisted the sleeper 
in Gethsemane and the coward of Pilate's court up into the 
heroic thunderer whose single sermon converted three thou- 
sand souls. Oh, if this Easter season could see a thorough 
reconversion and reconsecration of God's people, what a pen- 
tecostal power our churches would attain ! What a new liber- 
ality in giving and new zeal in working ! What a new revela- 
tion of the risen Christ to an ungodly world ! for assuredly that 
world never will be converted by men and women who are 
gasping for life themselves. Even such a soldier of Christ as 
Charles G. Finney confessed that he sometimes found that his 
preaching had no power to awaken or convert souls ; he seemed 
to be firing only blank cartridges. When he put himself into 
close connection with Jesus Christ and sought a fresh baptism, 
the currents of spiritual power flowed again mighty and irre- 
sistible. On a certain morning Dr. Horace Bushnell told his 
wife that he had had a revelation made to him. When asked 
what it was he replied, " The gospel." He said that the glori- 
ous core-truth of the gospel had broken upon him as an inspi- 
ration from heaven ; he had got a spirit-illuminated conception 
of Jesus Christ. From that time onward he rose from doubts 
and partial glimpses into a freeness and fullness of communion 
with God such as he had never enjoyed before. 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 141 

Something similar to this in kind, though not in full degree, 
has happened to tens of thousands of Christ's people. They 
have realized their low estate and begun to " seek those things 
which are above." Instead of grieving and thwarting the Holy 
Spirit, they have prayed to be filled with the Holy Spirit and 
have sought a fresh baptism. Instead of leaving their Chris- 
tian lives in the condition of yonder cathedral up on Lafayette 
Avenue, where for twenty years there has been a mere foun- 
dation and no edifice on it, they have laid hold of " building 
up themselves on their most holy faith, ... in the love of 
God." They have added to their faith courage, meekness, 
temperance, patience, and the other graces that beautify the 
Christian. A happy and a glorious Easter will this one be to 
all of us who get a new vision of the risen Christ, and pros- 
trate ourselves in humble adoration at his feet, and cry out, 
" Rabboni, Rabboni ! " Then shall we set our hearts, lifted 
into a new atmosphere, on things above, and reach an actual 
higher life. We shall know more of what it is to live by Christ, 
in Christ, for Christ, and with Christ, till we reach the mar- 
velous light around the throne in glory. 

Independent. 



THE SEVEN WORDS OF JESUS ON THE CROSS. 

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF DR. J. CH. RIGGENBACH, 
PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN BASEL, BY REV. J. B. RUST. 

Woman, behold thy son! . . . Behold thy mother! — John xix. 26, 27. 

In these words Christ recognizes the bonds of human affec- 
tion. He sanctifies them. Yes, he establishes new ones. He 
continues to create the most intimate unions, like those made 
at the foot of the cross, between persons who are not bound 
by family ties. Oh, how our earthly relations would be vivi- 
fied, purified, renewed, refreshed, and sanctified, if we would 
permit the Lord Jesus to say to us, " Behold thy father, thy 



142 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

mother ; behold thy son, thy daughter ; behold thy husband, 
thy spouse ; behold thy man-servant, thy maid-servant ; behold 
thy master, thy mistress ! " If we were to accept from the 
Lord what he grants our neighbors — that is, if we would not 
allow ourselves to be hindered by their faults and shortcom- 
ings, through which we conceive a dislike for them, and would 
remember why the Lord has intrusted them to us, and would 
study our conduct toward them — do you think there would 
be so much bitterness and division, so much selfishness, faith- 
lessness, pride, and jealousy among mankind as there is at 
present ? 

The words of Christ — " Behold thy son, . . . thy mother!" 
— only display their full power when we call the fact earnestly 
to mind that they were spoken on the cross. 

And what do they say ? In the first place, that our neigh- 
bors as well as we, and we as well as our neighbors, being 
mutually directed to one another, belong to the people for 
whom Christ had to die upon the cross. We are of the multi- 
tude of sinners who have been and are conceived in sin, and 
hence are not authorized to expect them to be free from faults 
and transgressions. And again, we must not forget that it is 
the crucified Christ who says to us, " Behold thy son ! Behold 
thy mother!" — or whosoever among thy neighbors it may be 
— and that he wants to remind us that he died as well for 
them as for us, and that therefore we are to labor that they 
may be edified and may come to an understanding of his 
sacred deeds of mercy. We must have a care that they be 
not driven away from our side by some offense, and must 
watch our own souls that we receive no offense from them. 
Behold your son, your mother, your neighbor, for whom Christ 
died as well as for you! What do you owe him, as well as 
yourself, for this ? 

Oh, what a duty of sacred love and holy watchfulness 
springs out of this for us ! Here the hatred of father and 
mother, of wife and children, yea, of one's own life, must in- 
troduce itself — that hatred of everything only human, wickedly 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 1 43 

human, in them and in us ; of everything with which they may 
hinder us in faithfulness to Christ. All this we must hate and 
abjure for the sake of Christ ; yes, for the sake of our neigh- 
bors, in order that we may truly love them in him ; that we 
may be lovingly interested in their souls' salvation as we are 
in our own. This does not exclude humility linked with 
patience. But as heartily patient as we are, so relentlessly 
determined we must be to battle against everything in us and 
in them that is not of God. Oh, how much idle complai- 
sance to flesh and blood, how much deceptive talk and false 
silence to please men, would cease, if we would become filled 
with the truth that the Saviour of sinners calls from the cross, 
" Behold thy son, thy mother, thy neighbor, for whose salva- 
tion I suffer ! " Do not ruin one for whom Christ died. 



IMMORTALITY. 

EXTRACT FROM A DISCOURSE BY REV. JOHN H. BARROWS. 

But nothing has pierced the darkness of the grave with so 
swift a gleam of faith in the life beyond as the impulse that 
is born of love. All happiness springing out of human affec- 
tion has an instinctive, and — is it not ? — a divinely begotten 
horror of death. The great French artist Poussin has pictured 
for us the happy Grecian shepherds finding, even in Arcadian 
forests, the dread reminder that earthly joys are not perpetual. 
A great critic, the late Charles Blanc, thus describes the scene : 
" In a wild, woody country, the sojourn of the happiness sung 
by the poets, shepherds walking with their loves have discov- 
ered, under a thicket of trees, a tomb, with this half-effaced 
inscription : ' Et in Arcadia ego ' — ' I too have lived in Arca- 
dia.' These words, issuing from the tomb, sadden their faces, 
and the smiles die upon their lips. A young woman, leaning 
upon the shoulder of her lover, remains mute, pensive, and 
seems to listen to this salutation from the dead. The idea of 



144 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

death has also plunged into reverie the youth who leans over 
the tomb with bowed head, while the oldest shepherd points 
out with his finger the inscription he has just discovered. The 
landscape that completes the quiet and silent picture shows 
reddened leaves upon the arid rocks, hillocks that are lost in 
the vague horizon, and afar off something ill defined is per- 
ceived that resembles the sea." 

Even those whose lives are a carnival of sensual pleasure, 
and the theater for the display of every glittering vanity, shud- 
der at the icy destroyer who sweeps away the banqueting-house 
of the soul as an Alpine glacier crushes the rotten timbers of 
a Swiss chalet. But innocent or holy love, whether of friend, 
mother, or child, not only rebels at death, but has in it the in- 
stinct of immortality. By loving love grows greater and de- 
mands continuance. 

RISEN WITH CHRIST. 

REV. THEODORE L. CUYLER, D.D. 

Seek the things above. That is the first thing. It is your 
privilege, your possibility, and your duty to reach the highest, 
holiest, and happiest life that divine grace can impart to you. 
Just what happened to the disciples when they sought and 
obtained the " power from on high " may in no small measure 
be your experience if you will seek a fresh baptism of the Holy 
Spirit and make a fresh and full surrender of yourself to Christ. 
That will be a reconversion. What a different man Peter is 
in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles from the crude, incon- 
stant Peter in the Book of John ! No more vain boastings 
and cowardly lies now ! Peter on the day of Pentecost is as 
superior to Peter in Pilate's courtyard as a stalwart man is to 
a puny, stumbling child. He had risen with Christ and into 
Christ. He had been baptized into a clearer illumination and 
lifted into a close, vital, and victorious union with his Lord. 
It was a prodigious push that carried the sleeper in Gethsem- 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 145 

ane and the coward in Pilate's yard up to the heroic thunderer 
whose sermon converted three thousand souls. Something 
similar to this in kind, though not in degree, has happened to 
thousands of God's people. They have awakened to their 
low condition. Instead of quenching the Holy Spirit, they 
have come to Jesus on their knees in honest confession, and 
have sought a new baptism. They have begun to clear out 
the sins that have monopolized most of the house-room in 
their hearts. They have sought a reconversion, a fresh quick- 
ening from on high. New light has burst in, new strength has 
been imparted, new joy has been kindled. They have flung 
off the grave-clothes and "put on Christ." Now they can 
sing with Charles Wesley : 

Thou, O Christ, art all I want — 
More than all in thee I find. 



THOUGHTS PERTINENT TO EASTER-DAY. 

Easter concludes what Christmas begins. The December 
festival celebrates not only the infancy of Jesus, but the child- 
hood of Christianity ; while the festival of spring commemo- 
rates the triumphs of his manhood over death, and the survival 
of spiritual life in a world hostile to its existence and expansion. 
With the coming of cold and frost a babe is born, like a timid 
flower springing up in winter, prophetic of unfailing summer ; 
and with the return of warmth and verdure the grave surren- 
ders its divine guest, and with his resurrection the highest hopes 
and purest graces of human hearts revive and flourish. It is 
then that multitudes forget for a time their humiliations and 
their cares, their degradations and their losses, in the con- 
sciousness of exalted fellowship with the triumphant Christ, 
and in the glorious expectation of endless personal felicity. 
Then a thrill is experienced such as nature may be supposed 
to feel at the approach of the vernal equinox ; for then, rising 
superior to the senses, which discern no signs in the stillness 



1 46 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

and silence of unnumbered graves but of corruption and 
decay, faith grasps and rejoices in the truth of immortality. 
Let patriotism have its high days and freedom its monuments, 
and let the triumphs of navigators and generals be annually 
observed ; but surely, beyond all these, a season that stands for 
as much to the race as Easter does may well be remembered 
each year with songs and flowers and with every mark of 
gratitude and of loftiest jubilation. 

REV. GEORGE C. LORIMER, D.D. 

Thine, O death, was the furrow ; we cast therein the pre- 
cious seed. Now let us wait and see what God shall bring 
forth for us. A single leaf falls — the bud at its axil will shoot 
forth many leaves. The husbandman bargains with the year 
to give back a hundred grains for the one buried. Shall God 
be less generous ? Yet, when we sow, our hearts think that 
beauty is gone out, that all is lost. But when God shall 
bring again to our eyes the hundredfold beauty and sweetness 
of that which we planted, how shall we shame over that dim 
faith that, having eyes, saw not, and ears, heard not, though 
all heaven and all the earth appeared and spake, to comfort 
those who mourn! 

HENRY WARD BEECHER. 

Many of you, nay, most of you, know full well what it is 
to have a sepulcher in the garden of your lives. You know 
the shadow that it sheds over all the pleasant alleys and the 
bordered paths. You need not be told how it changes the 
place for you into something other than it was. But there is 
another aspect. Not a spot in all the inclosure brought to 
Joseph of Arimathea so enduring joy as the very place he had 
builded for sorrow. And the sepulcher in your garden may 
do the same for you. It may be a resurrection spot for your 
soul. Out of this sorrow which wraps you round you may 
rise into a purer and serener day. The rolling of the great 
stone to the door may mark the finishing and hiding away of 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 147 

one portion of our Christian life, and the rolling away of that 
stone on the third morning may be the commencement of a 
higher and more consecrated one. And if this be the case, 
then the sepulcher spot in your days will be the most blessed 
of all. Its joys will reach farther, shine clearer, endure longer, 
than any belonging to the hours when your garden knew no 
tomb. Using your sorrow, it may teach you, as it has taught 
many, how to say : 

" Oh, deem not they are blest alone 
Whose lives a peaceful tenor keep ; 
For God, who pities man, hath shown 
A blessing for the eyes that weep." 

REV. G. L. WALKER, D.D. 



SEE THE LAND, HER EASTER KEEPING. 

CHARLES KINGSLEY. 

See the land, her Easter keeping, 

Rises as her Maker rose ; 
Seeds so long in darkness sleeping 

Burst at last from winter snows. 
Earth with heaven above rejoices ; 

Fields and garlands hail the spring ; 
Shaughs and woodlands ring with voices 

While the wild birds build and sing. 

You, to whom your Maker granted 

Powers to those sweet birds unknown, 
Use the craft by God implanted — 

Use the reason not your own. 
Here, while heaven and earth rejoices, 

Each his Easter tribute bring — 
Work of fingers, chant of voices, 

Like the birds who build and sing. 



148 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

EASTER HYMN. 

SARAH K. BOLTON, 
Tune: "Jerusalem, the Golden." 

Oh, glorious Easter morning ! 

Oh, day of peace and light ! 
One precious name adorning 

With lilies pure and white ; 

A gladsome message bringing 
Of love that knows no fear ; 

The sweetest anthem singing — 
"The risen Christ is here." 

He comes with gifts of healing 
For wounded hearts that mourn ; 

A sunlit path revealing, 

A world with pain unknown. 

He comes with life eternal, 
With hope and joy and peace ; 

Oh, happiness supernal, 

When want and woe shall cease ! 

He gave his life for others, 

Alike for you and me ; 
He counts us as his brothers — 

All one, no bond nor free. 

The bands of sin are broken ; 

The poor and the oppressed 
Hear the sweet gospel spoken : 

" Come unto me and rest." 



EASTER THOUGHTS. 149 

Oh, glorious Easter morning 

Oh, day of peace and light ! 
One precious name adorning 

With lilies pure and white ; 

A gladsome message bringing 

Of love that knows no fear ; 
The sweetest anthem singing — 

" The risen Christ is here." 

New York Observer. 



EASTER REFLECTIONS. 

PHILLIPS BROOKS. 

TJp and down our lives obedient 

Walk, dear Christ, with footsteps radiant, 

Till those garden lives shall be 

Fair with duties done for thee ; 

And our thankful spirits say, 

" Christ arose on Easter day." 



EASTER BELLS. 

MARGARET E. SANGSTER. 

Ring, hallowed bells of Easter, 

From spire and turret ring, 
And herald to the listening earth 

The coming of the King ; 
The King who comes in glory, 

The King who comes with state, 
Who yesterday was lying 

The slain of scorn and hate. 



150 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Ring, joyous bells of Easter, 

Death hath not conquered Life ; 
Victorious is our risen Lord, 

And finished all his strife. 
From Calvary's mount of darkness, 

Lo ! starry lilies bloom ; 
For by the cross we conquer 

And fearless face the tomb. 

Ring, merry bells of Easter, 

The winter-time is past ; 
The birds return to build and sing, 

The flowers are here at last, 
Sweet tokens of our Father, 

Whose kindness ne'er forgets 
To send us back the snowdrops 

And sow the violets. 

Ring, solemn bells of Easter, 

With many a thrilling chord, 
In sign of their triumphant life 

Who now are with the Lord. 
Forever free from sorrow, 

Forever free from sin, 
Our dear ones in the blessed home, 

Who safe have entered in. 

Ring, glorious bells of Easter, 

Beyond the farthest star ; 
Send out your wondrous message, 

The jeweled gates unbar ! 
For lo ! the King is coming, 

The King of life and love, 
And earth is glad in all her coasts, 

And heaven is glad above. 

Christian Intelligencer. 






EASTER THOUGHTS. 1 5 

THE LORD IS RISEN. 

CHARLES WESLEY. 

Christ the Lord is risen to-day, 
Sons of men and angels say ; 
Raise your joys and triumphs high ; 
Sing, ye heavens — and earth, reply. 

Love's redeeming work is done ; 
Fought the fight, the battle won. 
Lo ! the sun's eclipse is o'er; 
Lo ! he sets in blood no more. 

Vain the stone, the watch, the seal — 
Christ has burst the gates of hell ; 
Death in vain forbids his rise ; 
Christ hath opened Paradise. 

Lives again our glorious King ; 
Where, O Death, is now thy sting ? 
Once he died our souls to save ; 
Where's thy victory, boasting Grave ? 

Soar we now where Christ has led, 
Follow our exalted Head ; 
Made like him, like him we rise ; 
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies. 



LIFE IN CHRIST. 

SAMUEL MEDLEY. 

I know that my Redeemer lives ; 
What joy the blest assurance gives ! 
He lives, he lives, who once was dead; 
He lives, my everlasting Head ! 



152 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

He lives, to bless me with his love ; 
He lives, to plead for me above ; 
He lives, my hungry soul to feed ; 
He lives, to help in time of need. 

He lives, and grants me daily breath ; 
He lives, and I shall conquer death ; 
He lives, my mansion to prepare ; 
He lives, to bring me safely there. 

He lives, all glory to his name! 
He lives, my Saviour, still the same. 
What joy the blest assurance gives, 
I know that my Redeemer lives! 



i 



CHILDREN'S DAY. 

Historical.— The special recognition, on some particular Sun- 
day, of the children of the church, has marked the practice of 
some churches long before any general observance of "Children's 
• a> u ^A noteworth y practice has been the recognition each year, 
in the Church of the Pilgrims, Brooklyn, of which Dr. R. S. Storrs 
is pastor, of all the baptized children who have that year reached 
the age of seven, by the public presentation to each of a bouquet 
of flowers and a Bible. It was suggested to the Centenary Com- 
mittee of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1865, to establish 
a Children s Fund for the aid of the Sunday-schools, and ap- 
point a day for the gathering of the offerings. In 1867 the Uni- 
versahst Convention recommended a day for the dedication of 
children in all the churches; and in 1868 the Methodist General 
Conference recommended "that the second Sunday in June be 
annually observed as-Children's Day, and that in Sunday-schools 
efforts be made for the collection of an average of five cents for 
each child enrolled." This seems to give the Methodists the honor 
of beginning the regular observance of the day. In 1880 the hun- 
dredth anniversary of the founding of Sunday-schools by Robert 
Raikes was observed by many denominations in England and 
America on one of the Sundays of June; in 1881 Children's Day 
was recommended by the London Methodist Ecumenical Confer- 
ence; and in 1882 the General Conference of the Evangelical As- 
sociation appointed the last Sunday in June to be Children's Day. 
in May, 1883 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church 
appointed a Children's Day, but recommended, after the Metho- 
dist example, the second Sunday in June. The National Council 
of Congregational Churches the following October made the same 
recommendation; and other denominations have joined in the 
observance, and the day has become one of the most widely known 
and most joyfully observed of Christian festivals. 

The founders of the day desired to furnish a fitting occasion to 
increase the gifts to the Children's Fund, especially for the cause 
of education; and so to furnish a bond of connection between Sun- 
day-school scholars and the higher institutions of learning in the 

♦« X ' *?♦ >° e , duCate and elevate the y° u "g b y presenting 

to them attractively the truest ideals of character and life. 

155 



IS 6 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

The celebration has ^en marked hy large gatherings^ the 
children in the churches, which ^ a £™£ t £ the preaching 
SS^^SS^ST^pt parents, teacU and 
guardians; and the baptism of children. 

JESUS AND THE CHILDREN. 

A SERMON BY REV. C. H. SPURGEON. 

arms, put his hauds upon them, and blessed them.-MARK *. 13 

, Let us describe the sin of hindering young children 
from coming to Christ. First, I may say of it that tt .very 
r m C o°: *'- be common or *££££& 
found among ih. t.tlve .pod* ™" ™ ™~ ,,',„ 

„, on, L„,d .». . hi,M, ho.or.bl. band rf: "»■ d «J 

out for the conversion of children : as muc as we _ 
for the conversion 0, ■ ^/^^out for anybody, 
ZZSl ? W^tlT/say^ you >? £•■ — « ~ 
the Cainite spirit should enter a believ er s heart -nd ^ 

s ;;r s ss si -J^ - «* * ~ 

c mmonplace a matter to begin with the boy, and ^ J- - 

and your feeling is shared by many ; the fault is common. 



CHILDREN'S DAY. 157 

I believe, however, that this feeling, in the case of the 
apostles, was caused by zeal for Jesus. These good men 
thought that the bringing of children to the Saviour would 
cause an interruption. He was engaged in much better work : 
he had been confounding the Pharisees, instructing the masses, 
and healing the sick. Could it be right to pester him with 
children ? The little ones would not understand his teach- 
ings, and they did not need his miracles ; why should they be 
brought in to disturb his great doings ? Thus in these days 
certain brethren would hardly like to receive many children 
into the church, lest it should become a society of boys and 
girls. Surely, if these come into the church in any great 
numbers, the church may be spoken of in terms of reproach ! 
The outside world will call it a mere Sunday-school! I re- 
member that when a fallen woman had been converted in one. 
of our country towns there was an objection among certain 
professors to her being received into the church ; and certain 
lewd fellows of the baser sort even went the length of adver- 
tising upon the walls the fact that the Baptist minister had 
baptized a harlot. I told my friend to regard it as an honor. 
Even so, if any reproach us with receiving young children into 
the church, we will bear the reproach as a badge of honor. 

The apostles' rebuke of the children arose in a measure 
from ignorance of the children's need. If any mother in that 
throng had said, " I must bring my child to the Master, for 
he is sore afflicted with a devil," neither Peter nor James nor 
John would have demurred for a moment, but would have 
assisted in bringing the possessed child to the Saviour. Or 
supposing another mother had said, " My child has a pining 
sickness upon it — it is wasted to skin and bone ; permit me to 
bring my darling, that Jesus may lay his hands upon her," the 
disciples would have said, " Make way for this woman and 
her sorrowful burden." But these little ones with bright eyes 
and prattling tongues and leaping limbs, why should they 
come to Jesus ? Ah, friends, they forgot that in those chil- 
dren, with all their joy, their health, and their apparent inno- 



158 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

cence, there was a great and grievous need for the blessing of 
a Saviour's grace. If you indulge in the novel idea that your 
children do not need conversion, that children born of Chris- 
tian parents are somewhat superior to others and have good 
within them which only needs development, one great motive 
for your devout earnestness will be gone. Believe me, breth- 
ren, your children need the Spirit of God, else they will go 
astray as other children do. 

Also, no doubt, this feeling that children may not come to 
Christ may be derived from a doubt about their capacity to 
receive the blessing which Jesus is able to give. Upon this 
subject, if I were at this moment to deal with facts alone, and 
not with mere opinion, I could spend the whole morning in 
giving details of young children whom I have personally con- 
versed with, some of them very young children indeed. I 
will say broadly that I have more confidence in the spiritual 
life of the children that I have received into this church than 
I have in the spiritual condition of the adults thus received. 
I will even go further than that, and say that I have usually 
found a clearer knowledge of the gospel and a warmer love 
of Christ in the child-converts than in the man-converts. I 
will even astonish you still more by saying that I have some- 
times met with a deeper spiritual experience in children of ten 
and twelve than I have in certain persons of fifty and sixty. 

Capacity for believing lies more in the child than in the 
man. We grow less rather than more capable of faith ; every 
year brings the unregenerate mind, farther away from God, 
and makes it less capable of receiving the things of God. No 
ground is more prepared for the good seed than that which 
has not yet been trodden down as the highway, nor has been 
as yet overgrown with thorns. Not yet has the child learned 
the deceits of pride, the falsehoods of ambition, the delusions 
of worldliness, the tricks of trade, the sophistries of philoso- 
phy ; and so far it has an advantage over the adult. In any 
case the new birth is the work of the Holy Ghost, and he can 
as easily work upon youth as upon age, 



CHILDREN'S DAY. 1 59 

Some, too, have hindered the children because they have 
been forgetful of the child's value. The soul's price does not 
depend upon its years. " Oh, it is only a child ! " " Children 
are a nuisance." " Children are always getting in the way." 
This talk is common. God forgive those who despise the 
little ones! Will you be very angry if I say that a boy is 
more worth saving than a man ? It is infinite mercy on 
God's part to save those who are seventy ; for what good can 
they now do with the fag-end of their lives ? When we get 
to be fifty or sixty we are almost worn out ; and if we have 
spent all our early days with the devil what remains for God ? 
But these dear boys and girls — there is something to be made 
out of them. If now they yield themselves to Christ they 
may have a long, happy, and holy day before them in which 
they may serve God with all their hearts. Who knows what 
glory God may have of them ? Heathen lands may call 
them blessed. Whole nations may be enlightened by them. 

brethren and sisters, let us estimate children at their true 
valuation, and we shall not keep them back, but we shall be 
eager to lead them to Jesus at once. 

2. Secondly, concerning this hindering of children, let us 
watch its action. I think the result of this sad feeling about 
children coming to the Saviour is to be seen, first, in the fact 
that often there is nothing in the service for the children. 
The sermon is over their heads, and the preacher does not 
think that this is any fault ; in fact, he rather rejoices that it is 
so. Some time ago a person who wanted, I suppose, to make 
me feel my own insignificance wrote to say that he had met 
with a number of negroes who had read my sermons with evi- 
dent pleasure ; and he wrote that he believed they were very 
suitable for what he was pleased to call "niggers." Yes, my 
preaching was just the sort of stuff for niggers. The gentle- 
man did not dream what sincere pleasure he caused me ; for if 

1 am understood by poor people, by servant-girls, by children, 
I am sure I can be understood by others. 

Parents sin in the same way when they omit religion from 



l6o THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

the education of their children. Perhaps the thought is that 
their children cannot be converted while they are children, 
and so they think it of small consequence where they go to 
school in their tender years. But it is not so. Many parents 
even forget this when their girls and boys are closing their 
school-days. They send them away to the Continent, to 
places foul with every moral and spiritual danger, with the 
idea that there they can complete an elegant education. In 
how many cases I have seen that education completed, and it 
has produced young men who are thorough-paced profligates 
and young women who are mere flirts ! As we sow we reap. 
Let us expect our children to know the Lord. Let them read 
their first lessons from the Bible. It is a remarkable thing 
that there is no book from which children learn to read so 
quickly as from the New Testament ; there is a charm about 
that book which draws forth the infant mind. 

Another ill result is that the conversion of children is not 
believed in. Certain suspicious people always file their teeth 
a bit when they hear of a newly converted child; they will 
have a bite at him if they can. They very rightly insist upon 
it that these children should be carefully examined before 
they are baptized and admitted into the church ; but they are 
wrong in insisting that only in exceptional instances are they 
to be received. We quite agree with them as to the care to 
be exercised ; but it should be the same in all cases — neither 
more nor less in the cases of children. I thank God that the 
most of those dear children who have been added to this 
church could stand a rigid examination in doctrinal matters 
and would bear favorable comparison with the older folks; 
but still it seems to me a very hard thing that a high degree 
of knowledge should be expected of them. 

A very solemn person once called me from the playground 
after I had joined the church, and warned me of the impropri- 
ety of playing at trap, bat, and ball with the boys. He said, 
" How can you play like others if you are a child of God ? " 
I answered that I was employed as an usher and it was part 



CHILDREN'S DAY. 161 

of my duty to join in the amusements of the boys. My ven- 
erable critic thought that this altered the matter very mate- 
rially ; but it was clearly his view that a converted boy, as 
such, ought never to play ! What foolery, brethren ! I will 
say no more. 

Do not others expect from children more perfect conduct 
than they themselves exhibit ? If a gracious child should lose 
his temper or act wrongly in some trifling thing through for- 
getfulness, straightway he is condemned as a little hypocrite 
by those who are a long way from being perfect themselves. 
Jesus says, "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little 
ones." 

3. And now let us notice, thirdly, how Jesus condemned 
this fault. First, he condemned it as contrary to his own 
spirit. " They brought young children to him, that he should 
touch them; and his disciples rebuked those that brought 
them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased." He 
was not often displeased ; certainly he was not often " much 
displeased," and when he was much displeased we may be 
sure that the cause was serious. He was displeased at these 
children being pushed away from him, for it was so contrary 
to his mind about them. The disciples did wrong to the 
mothers ; they rebuked the parents for doing a motherly act 
— for doing, in fact, that which Jesus loved them to do. 
There was also wrong done to the children ; sweet little 
ones! what had they done that they should be chided for 
coming to Jesus ? Besides, there was wrong done to himself ; 
it might have made men think that Jesus was stiff, reserved, 
and self-exalted, like the rabbins. 

Anything we do to hinder a child from coming to Jesus 
greatly displeases our dear Lord. He cries to us, " Stand off. 
Let them alone. Let them come to me, and forbid them not." 
Dear gray-headed friend, who art so strict and good, I must 
get you to stand back a bit and suffer that child to come to 
Jesus ; for I do not wish the Lord to be displeased with you. 
And you, good Christian sister, who have curdled a little in 



1 62 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

your temper, I must beg you be quiet, lest the Lord should be 
displeased with you, as he will be if you forbid the children 
come to him. So, you see, it was contrary to his spirit. 

Next, it was contrary to his teaching ; for he went on to 
say, " Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a 
little child, he shall not enter therein." Christ's teaching was 
not that there is something in us to fit us for the kingdom, and 
that a certain number of years may make us capable of re- 
ceiving grace. His teaching all went the other way, namely, 
that we are to be nothing, and that the less we are and the 
weaker we are the better, for the less we have of self the more 
room there is for his divine grace. Do you think to come to 
Jesus up the ladder of knowledge ? Come down, sir ; you 
will meet him at the foot. Do you think to reach Jesus up 
the steep hill of experience ? Come down, dear climber ; he 
stands in the plain. " Oh, but when I am old I shall then 
be prepared for Christ ! " Stay where thou art, young man ; 
Jesus meets thee at the door of life ; you were never more fit 
to meet him than just now. 

Once more, it was quite contrary to Jesus Christ's practice. 
He made them see this, for "he took them up in his arms, 
put his hands upon them, and blessed them." All his life long 
there is nothing in him like rejection and refusing. He saith 
truly, " Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." 

4. Let us take the hint which Jesus gives to those who 
would come to him : " Whosoever shall not receive the king- 
dom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." 
How I wish that all my congregation would come and receive 
Christ as a little child receives him ! The little child has no 
prejudices, no preconceived theories nor opinions it cannot 
give up ; it believes what Jesus says. You must come in the 
same way to learn of Christ. I fear you know a great deal — 
throw it out of the window. You have made up your mind 
about a great many things — unmake your mind, and be as 
wax to the seal before him. 

A child believes with an unquestioning faith which makes 



CHILDREN'S DAY. 163 

everything vivid and real. Believe just so ! The child be- 
lieves in all humility, looking up to its teacher and receiving 
its teacher's word as decisive. Believe in Jesus just so ! Say, 
" Lord, I am a know-nothing ; I come to thee to be taught. I 
am nothing ; be thou mine all in all." When a child believes 
in Jesus it cares nothing for critical points. That is the way 
you must come to Christ. You that have always been invent- 
ing religious conundrums ; you that for many years have been 
readers of the last new novels in modern theology — for they 
are mere novels, and nothing better; you that have addled 
your brains with the vain thoughts of vain men, come to Jesus 
as you are, and believe what Jesus says because Jesus says it. 
Take Christ at his word, and trust him ; that is the way to be 
saved. 

" But I have no merit," says one ; " I have no preparation." 
Neither has a child. I never find children troubled about 
being prepared for Christ ; I never hear of such a thing as a 
child worried about qualifications for grace. A child is a sin- 
ner and knows it. That is the way to come to Christ. Come 
as a sinner, knowing that you are such. Say, "Jesus calls 
me, and I come ; Jesus died for me, and I trust him." That 
is the true way to come to Jesus. O friends, instead of think- 
ing yourselves fitter for Christ by growing bigger, grow smaller! 
Instead of getting greater, get less. Instead of being more 
wise, be more completely bereft of all wisdom, and come to 
Jesus for wisdom, righteousness, and all things. Those of you 
who have never looked to Christ and lived, do unto Christ, I 
pray you, just what these dear children did : he called them, 
and they came, and were folded in his arms. Come along 
with you ! Do you half wish you could be a child again ? 
You can be. He can give you a child's heart, and you can 
be in his kingdom newly born. May it be so, for his name's 
sake ! Amen. Religious Telescope. 



1 64 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION-. 

SERMON TO CHILDREN. 

REV. CHARLES H. PARKHURST, D.D., NEW YORK. 

... It is not expected that a child- Christian, eight, ten, 
twelve years old, will be just the same kind of thing as a man 
or woman Christian is. An apple-tree eight years old is not so 
large and does not bear so many apples as one that is thirty 
years old ; but a little apple-tree is an apple-tree all the same, 
and a little Christian is a Christian all the same. And what 
we are so anxious about is that you children should begin by 
being Christians. That was what made Joseph and Samuel 
and Daniel so good and great men — they began in that way ; 
got a capital start when they were boys. So did Polycarp, 
President Edwards, and Robert Hall. 

It is like learning to walk when you are children. It is the 
only time when you can learn to walk with any expectation of 
ever being able to walk decently. Supposing you had been 
kept in your cradle till you were twenty or thirty years old, or 
till you were sixty, and your bones had become stiff and your 
legs like sticks ; funny work you would have made learning to 
walk, wouldn't you ? It is just that kind of work that a man 
makes of beginning to be a Christian when he has gotten 
grown-up. 

We have a way of saying that it is hard teaching an old 
dog new tricks; but start with him when he is a puppy and 
you can do almost anything with him and teach him almost 
anything. It is just so with boys and girls. If there is any 
man here sixty years old that is not a Christian it is not prob- 
able that he will ever become a Christian. It is a sad thing 
to say, but it is true. Now that is not because he would not 
like to be one, it is not because he does not believe in being 
a Christian, but because he has gotten so stiff in all his ways 
of feeling, thinking, and acting that it is next to impossible 
for him to begin to be anything different from what he has 
been so long. 






CHILDREN'S DAY. 165 

You boys know how it is in rolling a stone down a side- 
hill. The stone may be so small that a baby's hand would 
start it rolling or a baby's hand be able even to stop it if 
taken hold of as soon as it has commenced rolling ; but when 
the stone has been rolling over and over, ten, twenty, forty, 
sixty rods, nobody can stop it ; all the boys take care to keep 
out of the way of it, and it goes on rolling and rolling till it 
reaches the bottom — down and down till there is no more 
down. And this being a Christian is such a wonderfully sim- 
ple thing, if taken early, that no little boy or girl here needs 
to think that any hard stint is being set for them. 

Being young does not make it hard to be a Christian. It 
is just that that makes it easy. Supposing, now, I am talking 
to a little twelve-year-old and he says to me, " What is it for 
me, a little boy, to be a Christian ? I would like to be one, 
but I don't know what it means." He goes on to say : " I 
don't feel that I am very wicked. I don't do right always, 
but I am sorry for it when I do not. I get angry with my 
seat-mate at school sometimes, and scratch him or pound 
him, or put a bent pin in his seat for him to sit on ; but then 
I am ashamed of it, and we make it all up afterward. What 
have I got to do in order to be a Christian ? " 

Well, my dear little fellow, there are two things I want to 
say to you, and one is : I would not wonder if you are a Chris- 
tian now. The way you have been speaking makes me think 
it may be so. I judge you have had a good Christian father 
or mother. And if you have had, why, then, it is perfectly 
natural for you to have become a Christian, and so early in 
your life, too, that you never knew when it came. Having 
started right, you will not have to turn around and go in the 
other direction. You are like the little plant that pushes up 
in the soil until it pricks through into the light, and then keeps 
on growing in just the same direction that it followed before 
it came into the light. When these little people that have 
grown up in Christian homes commence asking questions about 
these matters I do not consider that it marks the beginning of 



166 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

their Christian life ; it simply denotes the time when the crust 
of the ground begins to crack and to let through the tiny sprout 
that, all unknown and unfelt, has been pushing up underneath 
— not begins then, only commences to get into the light then. 

And the other thing I want to say is this : my little friend, 
how old are you ? " I am twelve, sir." And you want to 
know what this being a Christian is, and what a boy-Christian 
or a girl- Christian has to do? Well, most likely you suppose 
I shall name to you some great thing that you have to do. 
Probably you expect that there are some long, hard things 
out of the Bible that you will have to believe. 

Do you know what kind of a boy Jesus was when he was 
twelve years old ? You tell me that all you know about it is 
that, as we read in the New Testament, he obeyed his father 
and mother and went into the temple and tried to find out as 
much as he could about God and what God wanted of him. 
Now, my little man, to be a Christian is to be like Christ. 
You are a child yet. We do not expect that you now will be 
like what Jesus was after he became a man. For you, a boy 
or girl, to be a Christian will be for you to be as nearly as you 
can like what Jesus was when he was at your age. That is 
one reason why it is worth so much to us to have a Jesus that 
began in the cradle and gradually grew up. If we had a Jesus 
that was already a man when he came, and hadn't stopped to 
be a baby and a boy, we should hardly have known what to 
say to the children about these things; we might have had 
to say that only grown-up men and women could be Chris- 
tians. But now we have Jesus all the way along, from eigh- 
teen inches up, so that we can say to any one, " You can be 
a Christian by being as nearly as you can like what Jesus was 
at your age." We are not told of any great things that he 
did at your age (twelve years), and he probably did not do 
any great things ; nor of any great things that he believed — he 
probably did not believe any great things. We only know 
that he obeyed his parents and went into the church to learn 
about God and what God wanted of him. I do believe that 



CHILDREN'S DAY. 167 

this will make the matter plainer than it was before to some of 
our little men and women who want to be Christians, but who 
are making a good deal too hard work of it. 

You have watched a great grown-up tree covering itself all 
over with blossoms in the summer and loaded down with 
bushels upon bushels of glorious fruit in the autumn. A 
grown-up tree can do that, and it is a miserable tree if it 
doesn't, and good for nothing but firewood ; but a little tree 
cannot bear bushels upon bushels of fruit — it would break it 
all down and tear it all to pieces. So a grown-up Christian 
ought to do great things, or at least a great many small things ; 
but a little Christian can do only little things — little leaves on 
a little tree, little apples on a little branch.. 

And let me say only this one word more: that the little 
things that a little Christian does are not overlooked any more 
than the larger things that an older Christian does. I remem- 
ber even now the pleasure that my father used to take in the 
first scanty fruit that appeared on his young fruit-trees. It 
seemed really to mean more to him than the more abundant 
crop that grew on trees that were older. And it seems as 
though the Heavenly Father might feel in something the same 
way about his little fruit-bearers. At any rate, small things 
are not overlooked. I have read the story of a little fellow 
who, having but one cent to put in the plate, was desperately 
afraid it was too small to be counted. You can imagine, 
therefore, his joy when the minister read out, " Our collection 
to-day amounts to fifty dollars and one cent," and the little 
fellow was all right. Small things are counted. Quite as 
appropriate to the day is this story of the little girl who, one 
cold, windy, wintry night, waking up as her mother went 
through the chamber, said : " Mother, I asked God to take 
care of some poor child to-night, and I told him that to-mor- 
row I would try to hunt her up, and that I would help take 
care of her, too." Little works, little thoughts, little loves, 
little prayers for little Christians, and larger and larger as the 
years grow, New York Evangelist, 



1 68 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

A CHILDREN'S SERMON. 

REV. ALBERT DONNELL. 

I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, . . . 
even the Spirit of truth. — John xiv. 16, 17. 

Children, in these verses our Lord Jesus, who we know 
was one with God, and was God himself, tells us that he will 
pray God the Father, and that the Father, in answer to the 
prayer, will send us the Spirit of truth, or the Holy Spirit. 
This brings us face to face with the question, How can Christ 
be God and the Father be God and the Holy Spirit be God, 
while at the same time God is one, and not three ? In other 
words, what is the mystery of the Trinity ? 

Thirteen hundred years ago St. Gregory, in writing to an- 
other bishop, said that the Bible was like a river that an ele- 
phant can drown in and yet a lamb can ford. What he meant 
was that while a lamb — a little child — can believe all the 
truths taught in the Bible, still many of these truths are so 
deep that the most learned — the great men, those with the 
largest minds — will lose their faith if they insist on under- 
standing the truths before they believe them. This mystery 
of the Trinity is one of the deep things that a child can believe 
and yet the most learned cannot understand. 

Do you ask what reasons there are why you should believe 
that Christ is God, the Father is God, and the Holy Spirit is 
God, and still God is not three, but one ? I answer that we 
can believe it because the Bible teaches it. 

1. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is a personage as 
truly as the Father or Christ. It does this by speaking of the 
Holy Spirit as we would speak of a person. In one place it 
tells of a man and woman who lied to the Holy Spirit. We 
know that we cannot really tell lies to a thing ; when we lie it 
must be to somebody — to a person. Then we are told not to 
grieve the Holy Spirit. You know we cannot grieve a thing ; 



CHILDREN'S DAY. 169 

grief is something that only a person can feel. And there 
are other passages that speak of the Holy Spirit as we would 
speak of a person ; so we see that the Bible teaches us that 
the Holy Spirit is a person. 

2. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is God. You 
remember that the apostles were told to go everywhere, bap- 
tizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You 
see that this puts the Holy Spirit on an equality with God the 
Father and God the Son. You also remember that St. Peter 
told Ananias that when he kept back part of the price of the 
land he lied to the Holy Spirit ; and then, before he had fin- 
ished speaking, he told him he had lied to God. So St. Peter 
called the Holy Spirit God. And there are many other pas- 
sages from which we learn the same thing. 

3. The Bible teaches that God is one, and not three. Jesus 
said, " The Lord thy God is one Lord." Paul says, " God is 
one." And all through the Bible it is taught that God is one, 
and not three. 

So you see that though the Bible does not explain how it 
is, still it teaches that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all are 
God, and yet God is one, and not three. Now may the grace 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the commu- 
nion of the Holy Spirit be and abide with you! 



SOME TELLING FACTS AND FIGURES. 

EDWARD T. BROMFIELD, D.D. 

Two years ago, when I began to investigate the subject of 
Sabbath-school missions in its relation to home evangelization, 
I felt appalled at the array of facts before me. It seemed 
that so far from the Sabbath-school making steady advances, 
it was really losing ground. From every point of view there 
stood out in bold relief the fact that the school population was 
growing faster than the Sabbath-school enrolment. That is 



170 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

the fact still, but it is offset by another fact, namely, that the 
Sabbath-school is steadily lessening the gap. It will not be 
long before we shall reach the point where the increase in 
Sabbath-school enrolment will exceed that of the school popu- 
lation. The tide is turning in favor of the Sabbath-school. 

The school population of the United States in 1890, reckon- 
ing the school age as between five and twenty inclusive, was, 
in round numbers, 22,500,000. The average annual increase 
for the preceding ten years was about 413,000. Supposing 
this proportion of increase to have been maintained during 
the past three years, the school population in 1894 should 
be in the neighborhood of 23,700,000 ; it is more probably 
24,000,000. Of these about 3,000,000 are Roman Catholics 
and 21,000,000 Protestants. 

The total enrolment in Protestant Sunday-schools in 1893 
was a little over eleven millions, including teachers and adult 
scholars. About one fourth were over twenty-one, leaving 
the Protestant Sunday-school enrolment in the neighborhood 
of 8,300,000. 

Deduct 8,300,000 from 21,000.000, and we have an army 
of 12,700,000 Protestant young persons of school age outside 
of the Sabbath-school. Add a similar proportion from the 
Roman Catholic school population, and the total swells up to 
14,500,000. 

What are the churches doing to bring these young people 
into the Sabbath-school? Through various denominational and 
undenominational agencies the Protestant churches brought 
in during the past three years a yearly average of 397,097 
enrolled members, teachers and scholars, of all ages. Deduct 
one fourth of these as being over twenty-one, and we have an 
average annual increase of 297,823 from the school population 
into our Protestant Sabbath-schools. 

The statistics for 1890 show an average annual increase for 
three years preceding 1890 of 160,936, on the foregoing basis 
of reckoning, as against an average annual increase of 297,823 
for the three years following 1890. In other words, the Sab- 



CHILDREN'S DAY. 171 

bath-school enrolment has increased from about forty percent, 
to about sixty percent, of the gain in school population. 

During the past three years the earnest and well-directed 
labors of the friends of the Sabbath-school have produced signal 
results, and a decided advance has been made all along the line. 

Figures are sometimes eloquent and soul-moving. And in 
this case they mean a great deal more than tongue or pen can 
express. We now know that in the dark and toilsome journey 
there is light ahead. The army of God is moving on to vic- 
tory. America is to be won and held for Christ. 

Evangelist. 



THE RELATION OF THE CHILD TO THE KING- 
DOM OF GOD AND THE CHURCH. 

REV. J. J. BERNHARDT. 

In order to put this subject into a sufficiently clear light we 
must consider three main points : 

1. The condition and relation of man to God in his original 
state. 

2. Man's condition and relation to God after his fall. 

3. The plan of salvation that God prepared through Jesus 
Christ. 

As God created man, he made him in his own image and 
likeness. In what this image, in the most extended sense, 
consisted we can probably not wholly understand ; so much, 
however, we plainly learn from the Scriptures : that the natural 
and moral image of God is to be understood. The former 
consists in his intellectuality and immortality; the latter in 
knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. Therefore was he 
capable to hold intimate communion with his Creator, and 
found perfect joy and happiness in his society. He lived in 
love — in love to God and in a subordinate love to the creatures 
of God. Moreover, the Lord God, to show his sovereignty 



172 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

and to test man's obedience, gave him a law ; to keep and 
live, or violate and die. Man fell. He did not continue holy 
in his probationary state, but through the cunning and decep- 
tion of Satan was seduced and led to unbelief and disobedi- 
ence, and has by transgression fallen under the sentence of 
death. He has lost the moral image of God, although he yet 
bears fragments of the natural image. Adam, our progenitor, 
from whom we all come, is a fallen being ; we are, therefore, 
naturally sinful and morally corrupt beings and children of 
wrath. 

Sprung from the man whose guilty fall 

Corrupts his race and taints us all. 

This ancestor generated a son like unto his own image. 
Adam as a sinner, and therefore mortal, begets a sinner and 
mortal son. There is here now no difference; they are all 
sinners, and have come short of the glory of God. But God 
has in his infinite mercy devised and prepared a plan of salva- 
tion for fallen, sinful man. He gave his only begotten Son 
out of love to become a propitiation for the sins of the whole 
world. God is manifested in the flesh ; therefore he became 
like unto his brethren, that he may be merciful and be a true 
high priest before God, to atone for the sins of the people ; 
and he has appeared in the world as Christ the anointed for 
the threefold office of prophet, high priest, and king, in which 
he delivers us from our threefold misery — ignorance, guilt, and 
bondage. Although we are placed in more favorable relations 
to God, and he in his Son is friendly toward us, yet this does 
not change our nature. We are still, notwithstanding, ser- 
vants of sin, and children of Satan and heirs of death. The 
merits of Christ do not prevent the evil, and do not recall nor 
suspend it ; but it is a remedy, and must be accepted and used 
as a free, open fountain, in which the sinner must be washed 
and his robes made white in the blood of the Lamb. This truth 
has reference to all without exception. " Except ye be born 
again, ye cannot see the kingdom of God." 

From the foregoing it is easy to conclude in what relation the 



CHILDREN ■ S DA V. 173 

child stands to the kingdom of God. Still we are asked contin- 
ually, What will become of our " innocent " children that die in 
infancy? In reply we have only to say that the Holy Scrip- 
tures know nothing of such an occurrence. All the world is 
guilty before God. Of innocence, in the sense of the absence 
of depravity, no man can boast. Long ago has this been lost, 
through the first transgression — the fall of man. But if the ques- 
tioner means children that die before they actually and know- 
ingly commit sin, then the Scriptures have sufficient answer. 
And we will here let the great Master who is the Saviour of all 
mankind, but especially of believers, speak. He says, " Suffer 
little children to come unto me : for of such is the kingdom of 
God ; " that is, out of such consists the kingdom of God. " There- 
fore, verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as 
little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." 
It might be asked how children obtain salvation. In Christ 
Jesus salvation is not only accounted, but imparted to man. 
Just as salvation must be accepted by adults through faith, so 
is salvation imparted to infants without faith, as it shall be 
necessary for them. As every man through sin has inherited 
spiritual death, so is also the susceptibility of spiritual life im- 
planted through the righteousness of Christ and obliging grace 
of God. This St. John plainly teaches when he says, " In him 
was life ; and the life was the light of men." Again : " That 
was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into 
the world;" or, as the original text says, " enlighteneth every 
man when he cometh into this world." If children that were 
brought by their mothers to the Lord were incapable of re- 
ceiving the blessing, the great Friend of children would not 
have laid his hands on them to bless them. It was not use- 
less, as perhaps the disciples thought. So are the prayers for 
children and the laying on of hands by pious preachers, teach- 
ers, and parents not now in vain if at all done in faith. 

Now, since the children belong to the kingdom of God and 
are in favor with God, it cannot be gainsaid that they also belong 
to the visible church. It is the duty of the church to receive 



174 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

children of Christian parents, through holy baptism, mto their 
midst. Through holy baptism we cannot take up children 
into the kingdom of grace ; but into the visible church, into 
the congregation of God's people, we can and should receive 
them. Through baptism the child should be introduced into 
the family of God. It should develop its life from the begin- 
ning under the influence of grace. A child born into this 
world is already in the kingdom of grace, and has a right to 
the church — a right of membership through baptism to the 
church — and the church has a right to the child. It is self- 
evident that baptized infant children cannot be counted as 
active and capable business members of the church ; but they 
ought not to be looked upon as members on probation either, 
only in the same sense that we are all on probation before 
God. Children are the lambs of the flock. Christ said to the 
church, "Feed my lambs." The lambs belong to the sheep 
and the sheep to the shepherd. Should not, then, baptized 
children be intrusted to the church, and be recognized as 
members of the same ? Should they not be considered as 
belonging to the church till they, through wilful and sinful 
and God-dishonoring conduct, make themselves unworthy 
and forfeit their church-membership ? Should we not with 
all diligence endeavor to keep our children in the church — to 
nurture them, train them ; that they may be efficient co-labor- 
ers in the Lord's vineyard and be prepared for the inheritance 
of the saints in light ? We should, then, not let our children 
stand outside of the church until they become actual sinners, 
and then preach repentance to them and call them out to the 
mourners' bench. Evangelical Messenger. 

CHILDREN AND THE CHURCH. 

REV. S. IREN^US PRIME, D.D., LL.D. 

As I was approaching a church where I was to worship that 
day I met a troop of children going away from it. Wonder- 



CHILDREN'S DAY. 175 

ing why they were leaving before the service was commenced, 
I asked the meaning. The explanation was a sad one : 

" The Sabbath-school begins at half -past nine and closes just 
before the time for the church service, and this is the Sunday- 
school going home." 

" Going home ! " I exclaimed — " the children of the Sun- 
day-school going away from the church ? " 

" Oh yes ; the Sunday-school is the children's church ; they 
do not want any other." 

Pursuing the inquiry, I learned the habit of the children to 
be this : if the school is held after the service the children stay 
away from church and come to the school ; if it is held in the 
morning they attend the school and run away from church. 
This is the practice in the cities. 

Probably no such evil prevails in the country, where the 
church and the school are held in such connection that parents 
and children may enjoy both. But the subject is one that de- 
mands vigorous and judicious treatment. The life and soul of 
the church and school are involved in this question. Doubt- 
less the primary idea of the Sunday-school was to teach the 
young who are outside of the ordinary means of grace: in 
the highways and hedges, and not in the Christian houses, the 
abodes of virtue, piety, and intelligence. These schools for 
the ignorant and neglected were so useful that they were estab- 
lished for children of the church also, and proved to be greatly 
useful for them, as well as for the others. 

When they became so popular that parents neglected the 
duty of teaching their children at home, and the Sunday- 
school teacher was substituted for the mother in giving Bible 
instruction, the evil was obvious, yet very difficult to cure. 
The Sunday-school is better than the teaching children would 
get from thousands of mothers. The balance is largely in 
favor of the Sunday-school. But the parent who dispenses 
with the thorough instruction of his children at home because 
a teacher in the school will put questions to them from a series 
of Bible lessons is doing a sad wrong to those for whom he is 



176 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

responsible. The home is above the church in this regard. 
The father is prophet, priest, and king in the religious order 
of his house — the patriarch who must be faithful to his trust 
and see to it that his household walk in the way of the Lord. 
The children should attend Sunday-school, also, for the sake 
of others even more than for their own sake. But the high- 
est of their privileges and the richest of their blessings is the 
church in the house. The Sabbath is not long enough for the 
many services some of our friends try to crowd into it. It be- 
comes to many a day of dissipation ; to others, of weariness. 
It ought to be a day of rest and refreshment to body and 
soul. It is something far different to the young woman who 
goes to church three times, to Sunday-school twice, and to 
prayer-meeting once. Such excess of religious exercise is in- 
consistent with the design of the Sabbath ; a weariness of the 
flesh that is not an acceptable sacrifice. 

So with the children. It is even more important that re- 
ligious exercises should not be made irksome and burdensome 
to them. Too much of a good thing is bad for them. I 
would not require them to be all the livelong" day in a tread- 
mill of religious work. They will be disgusted and hate the 
service, which should be always attractive to them and a de- 
light. It is a serious question with ministers how to make 
the pulpit useful and pleasant to the young. Preachers with 
the gift of talking to children — a gift not so rare as is often 
thought — sometimes give a brief discourse to the children 
before the regular sermon. The objection to that practice is 
that children take it as their portion and dismiss the sermon 
that follows from their attention altogether. Now the art of 
talking to children does not consist in baby-talk or little stories 
or poor jokes. A man need not be a mountebank in order 
to interest the young in what he is saying. Children are not 
fools. If a man is simple in his words and earnest in his man- 
ner, children will hear with attention and get instruction from 
a sermon that is designed for the whole people. And the 
wisest and best of the congregation will be more interested in 



CHILD REX'S DAY. 1 77 

a discourse that the children understand than in profoundly 
abstruse dissertations which darken truth instead of making 
wise the simple. 

Children should be educated in and into the church. What- 
ever our theory may be of the spiritual relation of the child to 
the church, this is certain and true : that children should be 
consecrated to God from their birth. Of such is the kingdom 
of heaven. We should assume this as the normal state of the 
case and treat the child accordingly. He should be trained in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord. His first intelligent 
lesson should be of God and worship. The happiest hours 
of child-life should be in learning of the way to God through 
Jesus Christ. And so sweetly adapted is the child-mind to 
the gospel and the gospel to the child-mind that they cheer- 
fully coalesce, and the babe's milk is not more palatable and 
nutritious than is the bread of life to the new-born soul. No 
one can say how soon a child may intelligently apprehend the 
divine truth. Many saints of God have no memory of the 
period in their early lives when Christ was not dear to their 
hearts. When they were born from above they do not remem- 
ber any more than they can recollect the moment when they 
first breathed the breath of life. It is not so with all ; perhaps 
not so with the most. But the true theory of the gospel is 
that children should be brought up on it, as their daily food ; 
be nurtured by it ; renewed by the Holy Spirit, and made heirs 
of salvation. Parental fidelity in the judicious use of the 
means of grace will be followed by these results. We ought 
to expect them while we labor and pray for them. 

New York Observer. 

CHILD CONVERSION. 

EDWARD JUDSON, D.D. 

Becoming a Christian is like crossing a river. The Jordan 
is, indeed, often used as an emblem of death, heaven being 
the Promised Land. As the old hymn says : 



178 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood 

Stand dressed in living green ; 
So to the Jews old Canaan stood, 

While Jordan rolled between. 

But the Jordan may be justly used, also, as a type of conver- 
sion. The Promised Land had to be taken by force, and this 
sets forth the conflicts of the Christian life. Becoming a Chris- 
tian is crossing from bank to bank ; passing from the worldly 
country to Immanuel's land. Now, if we follow a river up 
beyond its affluents we find it keeps getting smaller, and at 
last it is only a silver thread winding through the meadow. 
You have to part the grasses to find it. Like Jean Ingelow's 
streamlet, 

A tiny bright beck it trickles between. 

Only a step will take you across, and you may even pass from 
bank to bank without knowing it. 

Child conversion is like that. The change of position is 
imperceptible, but there is a world-wide difference in the ulti- 
mate result. Now suppose a person does not cross that river 
near its source, where it is so slender that the grasses touch 
each other above it ; in other words, is not converted in child- 
hood, but travels along down the stream on the wrong bank, 
pursuing the natural course of the worldly life. By and by the 
river becomes wide and deep and arrowy. He says at last 
to himself, " I must cross the river." He plunges in. The 
current twists him, and bears him down. He struggles on. 
He buffets the waves. At last he gains the opposite shore. 
Drenched and panting, but full of joy, he clambers up the 
bank. There he meets a person who crossed the river when 
it was a tiny stream, and has been traveling down the right 
bank in Immanuel's land. These two people are sure to mis- 
understand each other. The one who forded the stream lower 
down will have a long and stirring experience to relate of the 
anguish he endured while wrestling with the flood ; of the joy 
which he felt upon arriving at the bank, and which he can 



CHILDREN'S DAY. 179 

scarcely find words to express. The other, who crossed the 
stream near its source, will reply, " I never experienced any- 
thing of that kind. In fact, I hardly know the exact time 
when I crossed the stream." Then the other may say, " Then 
you never have crossed the stream at all." " But," the answer 
will come, " I seem to be on the same bank you are on. I 
am conscious of forgiveness. I am living the Christian life. 
I love the people of God. His Word is sweet to my taste." 
" Well," the other will say, " that makes no difference. Un- 
less you have passed through experiences similar to mine you 
are not a Christian." 

What a mistake this is ! The fact is that many of the best 
Christians in our churches crossed the stream in early child- 
hood and so cannot tell you the exact date of their conversion. 
Those who are converted in maturer life and have such won- 
derful experiences to tell are prone to bring with them into 
the church worldly habits ; they are less docile, more worldly- 
wise. Happy the church in which children are growing up 
whose second birth follows close on the first ! Blest the gar- 
den in which these tender plants are springing up like willows 
by the watercourses ! Sunday-school Ti??ies. 



UNCONVERTED CHILDREN. 

S. E. WISHARD, D.D. 

Heavy burdens rest on many parental hearts. The children 
have not turned their feet to the testimonies of God. Child- 
hood and youth have passed, and the duties of life are con- 
fronting these unconverted ones, who yet have no adequate 
conception of what is before them. Sons and daughters are 
stepping out from the home roofs without having settled that 
question which determines their well-being in all the future. 
It is no marvel that great solicitudes weigh heavily upon the 
hearts of their Christian parents. The wonder is that these 



180 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

anxieties have been so long in coming ; that we have let slip 
those golden opportunities that ought to have determined long 
since the safety and usefulness of the children. How often 
Christian parents feel perfectly secure in reference to their chil- 
dren and quite at ease concerning their spiritual life while they 
are in the home, and only wake up to their danger as they go 
out to make homes for themselves ! 

While trying to point a soul once to the Saviour, the mother, 
who sat near, interposed, saying, " I do not want my daughter 
to be troubled about such questions yet ; she is young enough 
to wait awhile." The child was probably fifteen years old. 
Parents frequently entertain such thoughts without giving ex- 
pression to them. And deep down, far below this thought, is 
that parental habit of carelessness in reference to unconverted 
children. At length the hour for parting comes. It must 
come, for this is God's ordering — that new homes must grow 
out of the old. Then the dream of ease, the habit of indiffer- 
ence, is dispelled. The solicitude long slumbering, or perhaps 
repressed, wakes up. We discover that " the better hope " is 
the only good. 

Dr. Holmes was asked when the training of a child should 
begin. "A hundred years before it is born," he replied. 
This is a strong way of putting the truth that the training of 
children should begin with the training of their grandparents. 
Though Dr. Holmes has been credited with both wisdom and 
originality in his saying, the truth is much older than the 
genial talker. "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting 
to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness 
unto children's children ; to such as keep his covenant, and 
to those that remember his commandments to do them" 
(Ps. ciii. 17, 18). The covenant of God with his people rec- 
ognizes that nurture that comes down from parents to chil- 
dren through the fidelity of God's people. This involves that 
training of our children while in parental arms. This was the 
training in the life of Moses which, with the blessing of God, 
made him what he was to the Hebrew people and to all the 



CHILDREN'S DAY. 181 

world. The commission of Pharaoh's daughter to the mother 
of Moses — "Take this child away, and nurse it for me" — in 
its deeper significance is God's commission to every Christian 
mother. 

It must be the surprise and sorrow of many Christian parents 
that so many years have passed with so little diligence in the 
nurture of the children ; especially that there has been so little 
prayer for them. Prayer is the one resort. For nothing but 
the power of the mighty Spirit of God can regenerate the soul 
of a child even. The new creation is his work. The prayer, 
the holy living, the instruction, the patient " line upon line, 
line upon line " — these are ours ; but the work of regeneration 
is God's. We are absolutely dependent upon him to do that 
work in and for them which must be done. 

We have great need, also, to be much in prayer that we 
may not be left to put barriers in the way of the conversion 
of our children. Our own indifference, our inconsistencies in 
the presence of those whom we so much desire to help, may 
retard or prevent the work of God. 

There are seasons of special blessing, times of refreshing 
from the Lord, when the heavens are bowed and God is 
moving among the people, silencing the scoffer, awakening 
the careless, and leading the thoughtful into life. How 
unspeakably important that the children should be brought 
under the preaching of the truth ! In every time of true and 
genuine revival the children should have a place in the awak- 
ening. 

Family arrangements, school and office duties, should be so 
adjusted that the largest benefits may come to the children. 
" Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." 
Let the children hear. Let them see the Word of God lived 
out in our lives. Wc may not let the conventionalities of 
fashionable society crowd the children away from the house 
of God. If their places are vacant in childhood they will be 
vacant in after-years. God wants our children, but the world, 
the flesh, and the devil stand opposed to their spiritual life. 



182 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

We should not join in the treachery that may rob them of 
eternal life. 

Whatever mistakes we have made we should at once cor- 
rect as far as possible, repent of our sins, and ask God to give 
us the grace of fidelity in the future. God will heal the back- 
slidings of his people in this regard, and honor his covenant. 
" For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to 
all that rt re afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall 
call." Herald and Presbyter. 



CHILDREN'S DAY. 

SUSAN TEALL PERRY. 

June is the month of roses. It is also the month of daisies, 
buttercups, and red clover, the time when nature is at her best 
and is putting forth all her energies to make herself attractive. 
The songs of happy birds wake us up in the early morning, 
and the days are long, bright days. And now June becomes 
in reality the banner month of the whole year, because the wise, 
good Christian ministers and their people selected it for the 
time in which the children should have their special Sunday. 

It was a beautiful thought to give the children one Sunday 
for themselves. It shows that older Christians are in full 
sympathy with the children ; that they, too, wish to keep their 
hearts young and fresh. George MacDonald says : " Then 
only a man is growing old when he ceases to have sympathy 
with the young. And that is a dreadful kind of old age. 
When we are out of sympathy with the young then I think 
our work in this world is over." 

You all know how young hearts go out toward those older 
persons whose smiles are attractive and whose words are 
kindly. They are in full sympathy with the young, and you 
young people recognize the fact whenever you are with them. 

Hawthorne, who was a very reserved man with people in 



CHILD REX'S DAY. 1 83 

general, said, " If I value myself upon anything it is in hav- 
ing a smile that children love." An incident in the life of 
the Duke of Wellington also shows how he appreciated the 
joys and sorrows of children. He was walking one day in 
his usual road, when he heard a cry of distress. He walked 
to the spot, and found a chubby, rosy-faced boy lying on the 
ground and bending his head over a tame toad, and crying as 
if his little heart would break. 

" "What is the matter, my lad ? " asked the duke. 

" O sir, please, sir, my poor toad ! I bring it something to 
eat every morning. But they are going to send me off ever 
so far away to school ; nobody will bring it anything to eat 
when I am gone, and I am afraid it will die." 

" Never mind ; don't cry, lad. I'll see that the toad is well 
fed, and you shall hear all about it when you are at school." 

During the summer and fall the lad received five such let- 
ters as this one : 

" Stratfieldsaye, July 27, 1837. 

" Field-marshal the Duke of Wellington is happy to inform 
AVilliam Harries that his toad is alive and well." 

Such kind hearts have lived in every generation, but it is 
only within a few years that the older Christians have come 
into such perfect love and sympathy with children's needs as 
to set apart a Sunday for their especial benefit. Those who 
planned the grand day seem to enjoy it as much as the little 
ones, for the churches are full of grown-up people, many of 
them with silvery hair and wrinkled faces; but many of the 
wrinkles seem to be smoothed out by the happy, fresh looks 
that come over them when the children's voices are heard 
taking a prominent part in the worship. We older ones can 
testify that Children's Day has benefited us in many ways, and 
is the Sunday of the whole year which we enjoy the best. 

Now that you are so well remembered and cared for, dear 
children, we trust that you will feel that you ought to do all 
that you can to help us old folks make the world better. 



184 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

There is a great work to be done in the world for Christ at 
the present time. No generation of children have had as 
much done for them in every way as you are having done for 
you, and you are being fitted to do that work that is so much 
needed. 

Most of you will have a very happy Children's Day, we 
trust ; but there will be many of Christ's little ones who will 
have to be at home on beds of sickness and pain, and cannot 
go to the Lord's house and worship him among the beautiful 
flowers and loving friends who will make everything so attrac- 
tive. Remember such ones. Carry them flowers and some 
sweet, helpful words, to make the clay less burdensome to 
them. There may be others obliged to stay away, who have 
not suitable clothes to wear, because of their poverty. Seek 
out such and overcome any hindrances in their way that you 
can, so that as many as possible of Christ's little ones may 
gather together in his courts on that especial day. 

New York Evangelist, 



LYRIC FOR CHILDREN'S DAY. 



REV. DWIGHT WILLIAMS. 



This is the day of beauty, 

The sweetest of the year; 
The June is full of roses, 

The heart is full of cheer ; 
To God the loving Father, 

To Jesus his dear Son, 
And Spirit all-prevailing, 

We offer praise, each one — 
The praise of hearts and voices, 

The praise of song and flowers ; 
For Jesus came to save us 

And bless this world of ours. 



CHILD REX'S DAY. 185 

He is our Elder Brother; 

Sweet Mary's Son was he ; 
The Lily of the Valley 

Our Saviour came to be. 
He was the Rose of Sharon, 

In Nazareth he grew, 
Himself a flower of sweetness, 

So loving, kind, and true. 
Oh, could we all have seen him, 

He would have loved us all ; 
However low and lowly, 

However poor and small. 

He walketh in the gardens 

Of his own realms to-day, 
So near his golden palace, 

Where flowers have no decay; 
And oh, I think the sweetest 

Of all the flowers therein 
He gathered from the desert 

Of this dark world of sin. 
Oh, cherub happy children 

In myriads are there ; 
He sent his angels for them, 

His royal home to share. 

O happy land of children! 

Who would not wish to go 
And see the flowers that faded 

Out of this world of woe ; 
To dwell with Jesus ever 

Where death no more can come ? 
Ah, poor neglected children! 

He brings them safely home. 
The babes of our own households, 

In darkness laid away, 



&6 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

He calleth to his mansion, 
And cherubs all are they. 

What can we do for Jesus 

On this sweet day of flowers ? 
What can we do for Jesus 

To bless this world of ours ? 
We gather at his altars, 

And first our hearts we bring 
To him who died to save us, 

And we his praise will sing ; 
We've gathered flowers for Jesus, 

And here we lay them down, 
To tell how much we love him, 

Our King with, throne and crown. 

And gold, a little handful, 

We put in Jesus' hand, 
To build him towers of learning 

And grace in every land ; 
And every little giver 

Shall have a sweet reward 
When Christ makes up his jewels 

And speaks the welcome word : 
" Come, all ye blessed givers, 

Who helped my cause and me ; 
Go with me to my Father, 

And crowned you all shall be." 

Oh, come, let us sing of His beauty 
Who giveth the flowers their hues, 
And all through the night-time distilleth 
Upon them the brightest of dews. 
In beautiful June, 
With our hearts attune, 



CHILD REX'S DAY. 187 

We come with his banners above us; 

His work shall be ours, 

This Sabbath of flowers, 
Who promiseth ever to love us. 

When we go to the land where he dwelleth, 

And look on the seed scattered here, 
We shall see in his kingdom triumphant 
The fruit and the glory appear. 

In beautiful June, 

With our hearts attune, 
We come with his banners above us ; 

His work shall be ours, 

This Sabbath of flowers, 
Who promiseth ever to love us. 

Go, then, ye happy children, 

And love him more and more ! 
He holds a cup of blessing, 

And in it he will pour 
All joy and pleasure for you ; 

And from this day of flowers 
Ye all may work for Jesus 

And bless this world of ours. 
Oh, may the King of children 

Be crowned of all his own ; 
On this sweet day of beauty 

Be every heart his throne ! 



HYMN FOR CHILDREN'S SUNDAY. 

Ten thousand thanks, O Lord, be thine, 
For flowers to crown this summer land, 

For dews to fall and sun to shine, 
For birds to sing and airs so bland ! 



1 88 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

But more we thank thee for the flowers 
That bud and blossom in the home, 

Like song-birds, making glad the hours, 
Wherever straying feet may roam. 

Fairer than all these flowers of June, 

The children at their work or play ; 
Sweeter their song, with hearts in tune, 

Than wild bees' hum or skylarks' lay ! 
Lord, bless them with June 's wealth of life, 

Grown golden for the life above ! 
Make strong to win in hours of strife, 

And crown them with thy saving love ! 

Anon. 



FLOWERS. 

H. W. LONGFELLOW. 

Spake full well, in language quaint and olden, 
One who dwelleth by the castled Rhine, 

When he called the flowers, so blue and golden, 
Stars that in earth's firmament do shine. 

Wondrous truths, and manifold as wondrous, 
God hath written in those stars above ; 

But not less in the bright flowerets under us 
Stands the revelation of his love. 

Bright and glorious is that revelation, 
Written all over this great world of ours ; 

Making evident our own creation, 

In these stars of earth — these golden flowers. 

Everywhere about us they are glowing, 
Some like stars, to tell us Spring is born ; 



CHILDREN'S DAY. 189 

Others, their blue eyes with tears o'erflowing, 
Stand like Ruth amid the golden corn. 

In all places, then, and in all seasons, 

Flowers expand their light and soul-like wings, 

Teaching us, by most persuasive reasons, 
How akin they are to human things. 

And with childlike, credulous affection 

We behold their tender buds expand ; 
Emblems of our own great resurrection, 

Emblems of the bright and better land. 



A STRIP OF BLUE. 

LUCY LARCOM. 

I do not own an inch of land, 

But all I see is mine — 
The orchard and the mowing-fields, 

The lawns and gardens fine. 
The winds my tax-collectors are ; 

They bring me tithes divine — 
Wild scents and subtle essences, 

A tribute rare and free. 
And, more magnificent than all, 

My window keeps for me 
A glimpse of blue immensity — 

A little strip of sea. 

Richer am I than he who owns 

Great fleets and argosies ; 
I have a share in every ship 

Won by the inland breeze 
To loiter on yon airy road 

Above the apple-trees. 



190 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

I freight them with my untold dreams, 
Each bears my own picked crew ; 

And nobler cargoes wait for them 
Than ever India knew — 

My ships that sail into the East 
Across that outlet blue. 

Here sit I, as a little child : 

The threshold of God's door 
Is that clear band of chrysoprase ; 

Now the vast temple floor, 
The blinding glory of the dome, 

I bow my head before. 
The universe, O God, is home, 

In height or depth, to me ; 
Yet here upon thy footstool green 

Content am I to be ; 
Glad when is opened to my need 

Some sealike glimpse of thee. 



THE NOBLE NATURE. 

BEN JONSON. 

It is not growing like a tree 
In bulk, doth make man better be ; 
Or standing long an oak three hundred year 
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere ; 
A lily of a day 
Is fairer far in May, 
Although it fall and die that night — 
It was the plant and flower of Light. 
In small proportions we just beauty see, 
And in short measures life may perfect be. 



CHILDREN'S DAY. 



I 9 I 



THE FOUNTAIN, 



Into the sunshine, 

Full of the light, 
Leaping and flashing 

From morn till night ! 

Into the moonlight, 
Whiter than snow, 

Waving so flower-like 
When the winds blow ! 

Into the starlight, 
Rushing in spray, 

Happy at midnight, 
Happy by day ! 

Ever in motion, 

Blithesome and cheery, 
Still climbing heavenward, 

Never aweary ; 



JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. 

Glad of all weathers, 
Still seeming best, 

Upward or downward 
Motion thy rest ; 

Full of a nature 
Nothing can tame, 

Changed every moment, 
Ever the same ; 

Ceaseless aspiring, 
Ceaseless content, 

Darkness or sunshine 
Thy element; 

Glorious fountain! 

Let my heart be 
Fresh, changeful, constant, 

Upward, like thee ! 



STRIVE, WAIT, AND PRAY. 



ADELAIDE A. PROCTER. 

Strive : yet I do not promise 

The prize you dream of to-day 
Will not fade when you think to grasp it, 

And melt in your hand away ; 
But another and holier treasure, 

You would now perchance disdain, 
Will come when your toil is over, 

And pay you for all your pain. 



192 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Wait : yet I do not tell you 

The hour you long for now 
Will not come with its radiance vanished, 

And a shadow upon its brow ; 
Yet, far through the misty future, 

With a crown of starry light, 
An hour of joy you know not 

Is winging her silent flight. 

Pray : though the gift you ask for 

May never comfort your fears — 
May never repay your pleading — 

Yet pray, and with hopeful tears ; 
An answer, not that you long for, 

But diviner, will come one day; 
Your eyes are too dim to see it, 

Yet strive, and wait, and pray. 



THOUGHTS PERTINENT TO CHILDREN'S DAY. 

Children in the Church. — Ought there to be a place in 
the church for children who have given their hearts to God ? 
is one of the vital religious questions of the day. We do not 
mean to ask if there is a place in the church for an occasional 
child— one lamb among a hundred sheep. There always have 
been such sporadic cases, and the church has not often seri- 
ously objected to admitting the rare, precocious little saint. 
But the far more practical question is, Ought there to be room 
in the bonds of church-fellowship for the great mass of average 
boys and girls who, by judicious training and careful Christian 
nurture, may be induced very early to give their hearts to God ? 
Aye, we believe with all our heart there ought to be such a 
place. We believe that before many years there will be such 
a place in every true church, and it will be just as much ex- 



CHILDREN'S DAY. 193 

pected that many young children will form part of the mem- 
bership of every church as that there will be gray-haired men 
and women there. rev. f. e. clark, d.d. 

Take the Children to Church. — But do they not have 
a Sunday-school ? Yes, and a well-equipped and Christ- 
presenting Sunday-school is the right arm of a church. But 
a right arm is not the main body, and an arm dissevered 
from the body is a bloodless and impotent thing. All honor 
to the zealous, devoted Sunday-school teacher ! He or 
she is often an actual pastor or shepherd to guide to Jesus 
those who have no spiritual guidance at home. But the 
Sunday-school never was ordained to be, and never can be, 
a substitute for the regular services of the sanctuary. Bring 
your children with you to church, dear friends. It is their 
nestling-place as well as yours. Are you quite certain as 
to what your young swallows and sparrows may be about 
while you are sitting in your pews ? How do they spend the 
Lord's day at home ? If you commit the sin of beginning 
the day with your Sunday Times or Tribune or Herald, you 
may be quite sure that the boys and girls will be deep in the 
police reports and fashion gossip and wretched scandals of 
those Sabbath-breakers while you are listening to the sermon. 
Then keep the secular desecraters of holy time out of your 
doors, and take all of your " bairns " with you to the place 
where their young hearts may be led heavenward. Expect 
their early conversion to Christ. rev. t. l. cuyler, d.d. 

The Children at Church. — The children should have a 
part in public services. By enlisting their activities we shall 
incite them to attendance, for children love to go where they 
can use their powers. 

What part ? They can sing. They love to sing. They 
should be taught to sing the standard hymns of Methodism, 
and for that reason our Scholars' 1 Quarterly prints a few such 
each quarter. I venture that if our Sunday-school scholars 



194 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION* 

were taught the old tunes in the Quarterly, and encouraged 
to sing them with the congregations, this inducement alone 
would secure the attendance of scores. It is a most short- 
sighted policy to deprive children of opportunity to learn in 
the Sunday-school — the very place where they should be 
taught them — the hymns of public worship, for the sake of 
that so-called " enterprise " in Sunday-school management 
which rushes the schools at railroad speed through all the new 
Sunday-school music put upon the market. It is a species of 
enterprise that is striking the death-blow at congregational 
singing and alienating the children from church services. 

Many of the children can read sufficiently well to take 
part in a responsive service, which would further enlist their 
activities. If nothing more is done, let the Sunday-school 
lesson or the home reading for the lesson for that day be 
read responsively by minister and children or congregation. 
This may look like innovation ; but in the name of common 
sense we must do something. 

Then, children are the best of listeners if they can only un- 
derstand what is said. What child does not love to hear the 
nursery rhymes and fairy-tales told over and over again ? I 
would not ask impossibilities of any man, and if a minister 
says he is too old to learn new ways, or that children's talk is 
not his forte, I am not rinding fault with him; but of one 
thing I am sure: the ministry of other churches are alive to 
the needs of the age, and the pastor who does not want to see 
his young people dropping around to hear Brother A, of the 
Baptist, or Brother B, of the Methodist Episcopal churches, on 
Sunday evening, must learn to talk to the young folks. And 
the young minister who neglects studying methods of conduct- 
ing children's meetings as a part of his preparation is sure to 
be "left." j. f. cowan. 

The Trust of Childhood. — One of our present recollec- 
tions of childhood is that it was a time when we were confident 
to be taken care of. We took no thought for raiment but to 



CHILDREN'S DAY. 195 

wear it when it was provided. We went to sleep without 
anxiety ; no distraction came into our dreams ; we did not 
spend our dream-hours in carrying impossible burdens up in- 
terminable hills. It was but a moment from "good-night" 
to " good-morning," and the new days always blossomed out 
in original freshness and sparkle. 

The quietude of our young years was due, more than we 
thought of then, to the fact that we had a father and mother 
to go to when in trouble. They used always to help us out 
of our little difficulties. When the child comes in from outside 
the first question he is likely to ask is, " Where's mother ? " 
He may not want her for anything particular, but he wants to 
know she is there. Having father and mother under the same 
roof makes the child sleep more quiet at night. 

And so among the larger difficulties that throng and swarm 
around us as we move along into older years there is nothing 
we need so much as to feel that there is some one that stands 
to us in just the same relation now as father and mother used 
to stand to us years ago. That is the first idea of God we 
want to have formed in us when we are little, and the last 
idea we want to have of him as we move out and up into the 
place prepared for us in the Father's house on high. The 
first recorded sentence that Jesus spoke called God his 
Father, and his last recorded sentence on the cross called 
God his Father. rev. c. h. parkhurst, d.d. 

Forward ! Forward ! — Israel journeying through the 
wilderness had God's angel for signal-officer. When the cloud 
was taken up from over the tabernacle the children of Israel 
went onward in all their journeyings. To-day the pillar of 
Providence is moving, and commands "Forward!" to our 
church's Sabbath-school missionary work. 

Calls have come from twenty States and Territories for men 
to gather the children in. From the everglades and orange- 
groves of Florida ; from the rice-fields of South Carolina ; from 
the pine-forests of North Carolina ; from the Southern Empire 



ig6~ THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

State of Georgia ; from the mountain region of West Virginia, 
Kentucky, and Tennessee; from the northern peninsula of 
Michigan ; from the western and northern portions of Wiscon- 
sin; from the white harvest-fields of Minnesota; from Iowa, 
Indian Territory, and that Territory born in a day — Oklahoma 
— and " the Strip " ; from the Black Hills of South Dakota ; 
from Colorado's canons and plains ; from the wastes of New 
Mexico ; from the vast plains of Idaho, Washington, Oregon, 
and " the land of the fruits and flowers " — California — are 
seen God's cloud and fire, onward moving and beckoning us — 
Forward ! 

As we look and listen we hear with our hearts the cry of 
myriads of children pleading for the bread of life. What 
response shall the Presbyterian Church and its Sabbath-schools 
make to this lifted signal ? The offering of Children's Day 
will measure our love, our gratitude, our appreciation of the 
divine movement of Providence and of the grand and awful 
time in which we are living. 

Let every one, then, give as God has prospered him, and 
additional Sabbath-school missionaries will go forth to many 
a wilderness, and the solitary place will be glad for them and 
blossom as the rose. Not for payment of debt, but for means 
of a forward movement, I plead for money. 

JAMES A. WORDEN, D.D. 



RALLYING DAY. 



Historical. — In 1885 the Sunday-school Union and Tract boards 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church resolved to observe the third 
Sunday in October as Good-Tidings Day. The time was appro- 
priated for a general gathering together of the Sunday-school 
forces, which had been more or less scattered by the summer va- 
cation, and the inauguration of a new and united forward move- 
ment for the fall and winter. While not attaining the strength 
of some other appointed days, the effort has not been without 
practical results even outside of the denomination in which it 
began. In May, 1893, the General Assembly of the Presbyte- 
rian Church recommended that " a united effort of all the Sabbath- 
schools shall be made, beginning the first week of October, to 
bring, by personal invitation, children into these schools, thus 
training our young people to be witnesses and workers for the 
Master." In conformity with this recommendation, September 24, 
1893, was observed in the Presbyterian churches as a Rallying 
Day for teachers and scholars, and the month following was de- 
voted to the united movement. Rev. Dr. James A. Worden, 
Presbyterian superintendent of Sabbath-school and missionary 
work, issued to the Sunday-schools explanations of the meaning 
of the new day, reasons for its observance, and suggestions as to 
making it successful and helpful. It is reported that the observ- 
ance has become very general in several denominations, and its 
utility is apparent even to the most conservative minds. 



THE OCCASION, AND WHY. 

JAMES A. WORDEN, D.D. 

Rallying Day ? Another special Sabbath ? For what 
purpose ? 

I answer, first : To rally all the enrolled members of the Sab- 
bath-school. To reunite the forces which have been scattered 

199 



200 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

during vacation ; to hasten tardy feet toward the sanctuary ; 
to restore every straying lamb ; to ask every officer, teacher, 
and scholar to answer to the call of the roll on the last Sunday 
in September. 

I answer, second: To begin a fresh effort for new scholars. 
To enlist the entire school in an unselfish endeavor to win the 
youth yet unreached ; to begin a new campaign for Christ by 
going out into the streets and lanes of the city, even into the 
highways and hedges, and compelling the last child outside to 
come into Christ's school, and never relaxing such effort on 
this line if it takes all autumn and winter. 

Rallying Day may be less beautiful than other festivals, but 
what it lacks in flowers it makes up in usefulness. Others may 
be appropriate ; this, in one form or another, is indispensably 
necessary. It may be wanting in poetical sentiment, but 
abounds in practical religion, for it gathers the lambs into 
Jesus' arms. Rallying Day brings us back to the first prin- 
ciples of our work, which a poet has thus described : 

Some lambs are missed from Jesus' fold, 

And straying far from home, 
'Mid forests dark and streams so cold, 

The little lambs now roam. 

Some gems to deck our Master's crown 

Are buried now on earth ; 
Rich gems, whose luster sin doth drown, 

But still of priceless worth. 

Some harps are needed in his choir, 

Harps struck by infant hands ; 
And tongues to sing with youthful fire, 

To swell the hymning bands. 

To seek those lambs and lead them back, 

To find each sin-marred gem, 
To guide them to the heavenly track, 

Fit for Christ's diadem ; 



RALLYING DAY. 201 

To tune their infant tongues to sing 

Redemption's song in heaven — 
This is the work our loving King 

To us on earth hath given. 

To multitudes of Christian teachers September seems a 
seraph with a trumpet loudly calling to duty. They recognize 
it in the footfalls and greetings of friends hastening home from 
ship and shore, from over continent and over sea, from lake 
and mountain, and from quiet resting-place ; they hear it in 
the glad shouts of children trudging to school, and in the 
songs and cheers of students traveling to college, and in the 
welcome sound of the busy wheels of trade. To him who 
hath an ear to hear, these sound like a trumpet, and they say : 
" Rest-time is over ; the hour for action has struck. Your 
Lord vouchsafes another year or month, or, it may be, one 
more short week. The field is ready ; sow thy seed." 

Some one has said, " There is tinder in us which needs 
to be quickened by sparks;" and so by these divine sparks 
love is kindled into a flame — love for our Saviour and for his 
lambs. Time and absence have not chilled our ardor. Who 
now does not long for the coming of the first day of the week, 
that he may again see his scholars, may with them pray and 
praise, may to them whom the Lord has committed to him 
break the bread of life ? Who does not long for the prompt 
refilling of all the classes, and for the presence of all his own 
scholars ? Who does not mourn the absence of even one ? 
These soul-longings are the origin of Rallying Day. It fur- 
nishes an appropriate occasion for concentrating thought and 
effort upon the realization of the teacher's desire and ideal. 

Lost Scholars. — An uncounted host of young people who 
once were scholars in the Sabbath-school have dropped away. 
The causes of this unspeakable loss are many and varied. 
But I am certain that among the principal causes is neglect of 
these scholars punctually to return after summer vacation, and 
the neglect of the school and of the teacher to bring them back- 



202 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION, 

If a long time elapses after the scholar has been absent, during 
which no strenuous effort is made to induce him to return, he 
unavoidably suspects that no one particularly misses him or 
cares for his return. Hence he easily gives up membership in 
a school which is indifferent to his presence or absence. How 
can you better assure the absentee that you do miss him, that 
your heart sorely feels his absence, than by a heartfelt effort to 
have him return on Rallying Day ! One such lapsed scholar 
restored is ample reward for all trouble and labor. 

HOW TO GET THE MOST GOOD FROM RALLYING DAY. 

i. Let us begin September ist a prayer-league of all Sab- 
bath-school workers. The simple condition of membership is 
that all agree each morning to pray for every Sabbath-school 
officer, teacher, and scholar in our church. Jesus said, "Again 
I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as 
touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them 
of my Father which is in heaven" (Matt, xviii. 19). Pray 
daily, especially that all may receive the special anointing of 
the Holy Spirit. 

2. Commence preparation for Rallying Day early in Septem- 
ber. This preparation consists in distinctly announcing that 
the entire month will be devoted by officers and teachers to 
visitation of all scholars not yet returned to the school. In 
many cases the superintendent will issue a printed invitation 
to every member of the school to be present on that day. A 
special program adapted to the occasion should be arranged 
with appropriate hymns, Scripture reading, and short addresses, 
not omitting the roll-call. 

3. A committee of earnest teachers should be appointed to 
prepare plans for a thorough canvass for new scholars. If such 
a canvass has been made in past years, some new method of 
securing new scholars and of winning the young people out- 
side of the school may be devised by prayer and patient 
thought. The report of the plan adopted by the committee 



RALLYING DAY. 203 

may be made to the school on Rallying Day. Whatever plan 

is adopted, the cooperation and assistance of the scholars 
should be sought and obtained. 



ANTE-RALLYING-DAY THOUGHTS. 

We are told that there will come a day when all work done 
in the name of Christ is to be tried, to see what manner of 
work it is. As there can be no doubt about this, nor any 
doubt as to the standard of requirement, might it not be well 
for us, as workers in the name of Christ, now that we are look- 
ing forward to another Rallying Day, when the key-note for 
the winter's work is to be struck, to remember these two facts, 
and plan accordingly ? 

Some one has said that in order to lift up successfully one 
must be on a higher level himself. If we superintendents are 
to give a good lift up to our schools this winter, then, would 
it not be well for us to get firmly planted on a higher level 
than ever before ? 

Surely a sincere, prayerful endeavor to realize these two 
facts of ultimate testing and a given standard will be helpful 
in attaining to that higher level to which to lift the school. 

Fellow-superintendents, let us eliminate whatever, as a means 
to an end, does not make for the results we shall want to see 
recorded in the clear, searching light of that day ; and let us 
esteem very lightly whatever does not conform to the sure 
standard by which the work is to be tested and tried. 

Presbyterian Banner. 

VACATION RESPONSIBILITIES. 

ROBERT C. OGDEN. 

A vacation from ordinary occupation is a sacred trust. In 
the Christian theory every superior possession brings added re- 
sponsibility. A vacation is a possession to be accounted for 



204 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

the same as money, talent, education. Therefore it may not 
be used merely for personal ease and enjoyment. All that is 
incidental ; its real and high purpose is the upbuilding of men- 
tal, spiritual, and physical forces wherewith the possessor will 
enrich the service which humanity and Christianity alike de- 
mand shall be rendered to mankind. Officers, teachers, and 
scholars of our Sunday-schools must remember this. If they 
have been thus inspired by high resolve while enjoying the free 
life of rural relaxation, our schools will be the richer and more 
efficient for the impetus which the opening autumn will bring. 
If, however, the vacation has been taken in the happy-go-lucky 
fashion so widely prevalent, and the results are merely a record 
of empty frivolities, that have impoverished and not increased 
the vital forces of Christian work, the results to the Sunday- 
school will be sad indeed ; and instead of the expected clusters 
of rich experience that should grace the harvest-home of the 
school, there will merely be contribution of dead and fruitless 
leaves. A lost vacation is a sad loss. A vacation is lost that 
fails to add strength to both mind and body. 

The sea stretches before me dark, gray, and sullen as I write. 
The coast-line to the southward is misty and indistinct ; the out- 
line of York Cliffs is vague in the light fog, and Agamenticus 
lifts its head into the clouds. The sky is heavy, and rain falls 
not far away. But many miles distant the dreary waters are 
no longer gray. At the horizon's edge is a broad line of bright 
silver, and across it the reflections of the clear-white sails tell 
when the stately vessels are passing. And so I am reminded 
that above the clouds the sun shines bright and clear. 

The serious observer who loves his fellow-men looks out 
upon life's sea, and finds clouds and storm, haze and darkness, 
obscuring much that he wishes could be seen bold, clear, and 
beautiful in the golden light of truth and righteousness. The 
night lingers darkly even over the church itself. But Chris- 
tianity has no use for the pessimist. He that lifts up his eyes 
and looks afar may find the light that presages the dawn of 
the golden age. There are signs that purity and nobility are 



RALLYING DAY. 205 

more than ever regnant in some human hearts — the reflex of 
the mind of Christ. And not the least of these signs is that 
in the crowds that are now thronging the vacation resorts m 
the mountains and at the sea are many, neither frivolous nor 
careless, who are remembering to account to God and man 
for the benefits of blessed vacations. Their barks are sailed 
in the white light of earnestness. Their course may be traced 
by the reflections from the clear-white sails of consecrated 
character. Blessed is the Sunday-school that welcomes back 
in the autumn the inspiration of many such. 

As I cease writing the distant light grows broader and 
brighter. I fancy it gives me a Rallying- Day message of 
hope and courage for the schools, soon to reassemble through- 
out our church. 



OUR MODEL SABBATH-SCHOOL. 

J. S. PHILLIPS. 

Now that the summer conventions are over, and we return 
with note-books hastily filled with rich experience and helpful 
suggestions, we begin to cast about for something practical. 
So many ideals have been painted, which shall we follow? or, 
after all, what is a model Sabbath-school ? 

We have listened to volley after volley on " The Model Super- 
intendent " and " The Model Teacher " ; but who has attempted 
so great a subject as " The Model Scholar " or " The Model 
Janitor," who sometimes has more to do with the success or 
failure of a Sabbath-school than any one else ? Yet all these 
must enter into our ideal. Then, in brief, our model is a 
Sabbath-school in which every one from janitor to super- 
intendent knows what his duty is, and does it, and each has 
confidence that the work of the other will be well done. The 
primary teacher does not feel responsible for superintending 
the school — there is a man or woman elected to perform that 
duty — but she has a class of innocent children to lead to 



206 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Christ. The intermediate or advanced scholar does not owe 
it to the school to become a teacher until he is elected or called 
upon ; but, that which is of greater moment, he owes it to him- 
self to be a good scholar, and to come promptly with a well- 
prepared lesson, bringing as many others with him as he can. 
The janitor is not responsible for the work of the librarian, or 
the kind of books which fill the library, but for a properly ven- 
tilated room, the kind of coal that fills the heater, and promptly 
to call the world to righteousness with the gospel bell. The 
superintendent is commander-in-chief. 



UNITED MOVEMENT FOR GATHERING IN 
THE NEGLECTED CHILDREN. 

JAMES A. WORDEN ? D.D. 

Need of this Movement. — There are many families in every 
neighborhood who, for various reasons, attend neither church 
nor Sabbath-school. Some of these are alienated from the 
church, and even from Christianity. They are estranged from 
the pastors of the churches. They are in danger of going on 
from indifference to Christ to infidelity, and of being poisoned 
with the literature of unbelief, and, more commonly, with the 
taint of utter worldliness. 

In our large towns and cities houses are continually chang- 
ing occupants — the stranger is ever within the gates. Many 
new residences are going up. Somebody with an immortal 
soul lives or is going to live in those houses. With these 
come and go the children and youth. The parents are not 
acquainted with the ministers or church-members, nor these 
with them. These parents may have been confessors of Christ 
where they came from. If neglected now they may drift 
away, for the world and worldlings never neglect them. Some 
of them are careless. They allow their children and young 
people to do as they please on the Sabbath. Yet they would 



RALLYING DAY. 207 

be well pleased with any one showing a genuine interest in 
their offspring. The worst want their children to be better 
than themselves. Some would send their children to Sabbath- 
school if for no better reason than to have them cared for, an 
hour or two, by some one whom they could trust. Others 
would be delighted to have their children in a respectable 
Sabbath-school, and to have them make the acquaintance of 
respectable Christian people. Few, unless for want of clothes, 
will refuse to send their children to Sabbath-school. 

There are in every community or neighborhood many young 
people who once attended Sabbath-school, who have drifted 
out of it. Their teachers neglected to visit them when they 
were absent or sick; their teachers were irregular in their 
attendance ; their teachers moved away, and their class was 
broken up ; they had some grievance or irritation against 
some one in the school, etc. For these and for other causes 
they have left Sabbath-school. They are hard to win back, 
but they can be won. Perhaps some lapsed ones from your 
own school might be discovered and brought in. 

There are in almost every neighborhood poor people who 
imagine that the church of Christ and the Sabbath-school are 
luxuries not for them ; in plain English, that the church does 
not care for poor people who can pay nothing, and who can- 
not dress as others do. These people are often intelligent and 
proud, and they are morbidly sensitive to any appearance 
of slight or neglect. They will never forgive a display of 
contempt. 

These and many more classes of non-attendants at church 
or Sabbath-school can be reached only by Christians going to 
their homes, removing these prejudices, winning their confi- 
dence, and by the might of Christian love compelling them to 
come in, and to bring or to send their children and young 
people to the Sabbath-school. Systematic house-to-house 
visitation alone can save them. This was true in Paul's day ; 
he describes himself as "teaching you publicly, and from 
house to house" (Acts xx. 20). The good shepherd must go 



208 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

after the lost sheep until he find it. Of course this visitation 
includes searching out and conversing with these people wher- 
ever they may be found — at home, on the street, in their stores, 
shops, places of work, etc. But nothing can be substituted 
for this actual, personal visitation. 

Who are to Do It? — It will be indispensably necessary to 
secure the Holy Spirit in special power to arouse Christian 
workers to renewed consecration to Christ. Canvassing for 
scholars, house-to-house visitation, is a work crucifying to the 
flesh, and demanding not merely self-denial, but a love for 
perishing, immortal children and youth which will bear all 
things, believe all things, hope all things, endure all things, 
and never fail. Nil desperandum, sub Christo duce. It is not 
necessary to add that this can be obtained only by prayer. 

Generally, Christian ladies, by their gentleness, tact, and 
perseverance, are best qualified for this difficult and delicate 
labor. Every Sabbath-school has in it ladies who have this 
heroism for Jesus, which, if properly appealed to, will lead 
them into this toil, which often requires as much faith, hope, 
and love as zenana work in India, or missionary campaigning 
in Africa. Some of these Christian ladies are now Sabbath- 
school teachers. Others there are who, for a variety of reasons, 
cannot teach on the Sabbath, yet, if allowed to work at their 
own time and in their own way, would consent to act on the 
canvassing or visiting committee. 

How is this Work to be Organized? — There should be a regu- 
lar conference of the visiting committee. At this meeting a 
map-sketch of the entire district or field of work should be 
shown. In almost every school can be found some young 
man or woman who could prepare such a map. Localities of 
special interest and need could be pointed out and described. 
If possible this general field should be divided into subdistricts, 
one of which could be given to each member of the committee. 
A map of the subdistrict could be given to the canvasser of 
that district. Much information could be collected concerning 
the people residing in each subdistrict. 



RALLYIXG DAW 209 

The precise principles and methods of work should be ex- 
plained. There should be no attempt at proselyting from other 
churches. The predilections, former connection, and denomi- 
national preferences of the families visited should be sacredly 
regarded. If any are found preferring any other church or 
Sabbath-school than your own, report name and address and 
circumstances to the pastor of that church or the superin- 
tendent of that school. If no preferences are expressed, or if 
they prefer yours, cordially invite them to your church and 
school. 

A careful record should be kept of all families visited, not 
only giving the names of all the family, but their religious con- 
dition, as far as possible. Blank-books carefully ruled for the 
purpose should be furnished to the canvassers. 

Before starting pray that you may be endued by the Holy 
Spirit with wisdom, love, and zeal. As you enter each house 
breathe a silent prayer for Christ's presence and help. Use 
the utmost gentleness and skill in conversing with each mem- 
ber of the family. Let your dress and address recommend 
your religion. Do all without pride or ostentation, in meek- 
ness instructing those who oppose themselves. Carry with 
you printed cards of invitation to your church and to your 
Sabbath-school, having on them the name and address of your 
pastor, superintendent, etc. Go forth armed with a selection 
of the best tracts. Carefully read these tracts yourself, that 
you may know how to adapt them to each family. Do not 
shoot your bullets into the tree-tops. Carry these tracts in an 
envelope, to keep them fresh and clean. 

Remember love alone wins. Never argue. Reveal your 
Saviour to people in your walk and conversation. " Men per- 
suade themselves with little difficulty to scoff at principles, to 
ridicule books, to make sport of the names of good men ; but 
they cannot bear their presence — it is holiness embodied in 
personal form which they cannot steadily confront and bear 
down." 

At the meeting of this committee reports should be given of 



210 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

the work done and of its instructive incidents. Some of these 
reports should be given to the entire church at its weekly 
meeting. Herald and Presbyter. 

RALLYING DAY. 

HON. JOHN WANAMAKER. 

If a continuous service from bojrhood in one place as a 
Sunday-school superintendent entitles me to address my fellow- 
workers as brethren, I take that privilege now, at the urgent 
call of my personal friend Dr. Worden, to emphasize the im- 
portance of the order of the General Assembly of the Presby- 
terian Church to observe the month of October as a special 
season for the building up of our schools. With this object in 
view Dr. Worden has fixed the last Sunday of September as 
" Rallying Day." We are asked by our chief to fall in line 
with that great company of fathers who beckon us onward. 

Summer days scatter the flocks. Those who climb moun- 
tains, and drift over seas, and dream through holidays, are 
often overtaken by the mists that fall and thicken about them. 
They will not come back except we hunt their footsteps and 
go after them. Wishing them safely back will not bring them. 
They may be out a long time — a year, ten years, a lifetime — 
and never be able to see the way but for a ready messenger to 
help them set their feet again in the direction of home. 

There are others who are out of the way — old as well as 
young, rich as well as poor — in the perils and confusions of 
this hurrying life, to whom the Bible class would be a comfort, 
protection, and inspiration. Many a full-grown man might be 
able to keep his feet, or be lifted up when down, by the sym- 
pathy and interest of such an association, and by the wise 
counsel and friendship of a faithful teacher. 

What do you say to a general, united, enthusiastic, im- 
mediate uprising throughout our church, not only for the up- 
building of Sunday-schools for the young, but for Bible classes 



RALLYING DAY. 211 

for adults, until every man, woman, and child shall have an 
inviting place and needed helps to study the great Book of 
God? 

THE USE OF RALLYING DAY. 

REV. E. M. FERGUSSON. 

Many Sunday-schools of late years have set apart one Sun- 
day in the fall as " Rallying Sunday." To prepare the program 
for such an event, secure the speaker, train the participants, 
and conduct the advertising campaign, means hard work for 
somebody — generally the superintendent ; and many super- 
intendents who have heard of the plan have dismissed it from 
mind, feeling sure that the results would not be commensurate 
with the labor. All will, of course, admit that a well-planned 
program will be a benefit to the scholars, and it is quite desir- 
able that the school shall distinguish itself occasionally in the 
eyes of the church and the community. But are these suffi- 
cient reasons for introducing Rallying Day into our Sunday- 
school ? 

The proposition may be viewed in another light, and in that 
light Rallying Day, or some analogous occasion, when the 
whole actual and possible membership of the school can be 
gotten for once together, is seen to be not so much a profitable 
task as a solemn duty and a notable opportunity. It gives the 
Sunday-school a chance to correct its own past mistakes. 

In every Sunday-school household, " however watched and 
tended," there are some vacant chairs. These chairs were 
once occupied by scholars more or less regular in attendance, 
who have now joined the army of the lapsed. Statistics gath- 
ered recently by church, township, and district visitors corrobo- 
rate what we have all observed ourselves — that these losses are 
largely due to the carelessness, often amounting to gross un- 
faithfulness, of the teacher, to the backwardness of the church 
in providing teachers for vacant classes, and to the want of 
tact and the lax administration of the superintendent. It is 



212 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

the duty of every Sunday-school so to perfect its methods that 
scholars will not lapse ; and, if this should unfortunately 
happen, to keep a light in the window and a welcome waiting 
for the lapsed scholar ; and to do something active and wisely 
planned to bring the wanderer back to the fold. A heartily 
worded Rallying-Day card, followed up, wherever practicable, 
with an earnest personal invitation, affords a large opportunity 
to retrieve past errors, and makes it easier for the high-spirited 
child to reconsider the hasty determination, and to enter the 
familiar doors once more. 

And when the day comes, let school and class combine to 
make it a day of the truest Christian hospitality. Let the past 
on both sides be forgotten. Let these returning friends be lov- 
ingly, but not obtrusively, watched for, and let them be made 
to feel that here from week to week a love is shown, a work 
carried on, a gospel preached and practised, in which they 
have been foolish indeed not to have had a part. So shall we 
truly rally our Sunday-school forces for Jesus ; and so, with his 
Spirit's blessing, shall it be a day of angelic rejoicing over 
wanderers returned. Herald and Presbyter. 



SABBATH-SCHOOL KITE-STRINGS. 

REV. HOWARD AGNEW JOHNSTON, PH.D. 

I was once going down one of the inclined planes that reach 
from the hills of Cincinnati to the lower city ; and on looking 
from the car-window I saw a kite pitching and darting in the 
most obstreperous fashion, tugging at the string that held it as 
if desiring to be free. At last the string broke, and the kite 
fell to the ground a jumble of broken sticks. On that same 
day I was crossing the canal on the bridge by the city hospital, 
where I noticed a boy standing with a kite-string in his hand, 
and triumphantly gazing off into the sky. I followed that 
string up toward the clouds, where a magnificent kite was 



RALLYING DAY. 213 

splendidly sailing in the heavens. Then I thought to myself 
that boys and girls are like those two kites. There are some 
who are restless under the ties and influences that bind them 
to the home and to the Sabbath-school. They want to be free, 
failing to realize that what they call freedom is the way to de- 
struction. They are ever shirking their obligations, or evading 
them, or breaking them ; and in the end they fall to the earth 
with characters torn and bleeding and blackened and broken. 
Then there are some who see how these cords of precious in- 
fluences are real blessings, and they take them and tie them to 
their heartstrings, and rejoice to be led by them in the path- 
way of noble rectitude and integrity, of kindly helpfulness and 
sweet gentleness. And in the end they develop characters 
strong and beautiful, that grow like unto that of Christ himself. 
Boys and girls, young men and young women, honor the 
Sabbath-school kite-strings. They mean priceless blessings to 
your souls. Herald and Presbyter. 



HOW TO MAKE RALLYING DAY A SUCCESS. 

JAMES A. WORDEN, D.D. 

i. Prepare your scnool. Announce and explain the object 
of Rallying Day, and precisely how you expect to celebrate it. 

2. Prepare your teachers. Many superintendents send to 
each officer and teacher an encouraging letter, requesting them 
a week or more before Rallying Day to visit their scholars, 
especially any who may not have returned since vacation, try- 
ing to secure the presence of every one. 

3. Have suitable music and hymns ready. If practicable 
have one or more new hymns for the occasion. " O sing unto 
the Lord a new song." 

On the day, the reading of portions of God's Word respon- 
sively, hearty singing by all of the familiar hymns, brief and 
earnest prayers, will make the opening and closing worship 
fresh, exhilarating, joyous. 



214 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

SPECIAL FEATURES. 

i. Let the secretary (or superintendent) call the roll of the 
school by classes. Each teacher can respond as his or her 
class is called by giving (i) total number of scholars enrolled, 
(2) number present, (3) number absent. If carried out in an 
appropriate manner this roll-call will have a wholesome effect 
upon both teacher and scholar. 

2. Two or three brief addresses on subjects connected with 
Rallying Day — such as the power of punctuality, regularity, 
and perseverance in school duties, or reasons for performing 
Christ's work in the most thorough and businesslike method — 
will make the best service for the occasion. 

3. A plan should be matured, and exhibited on Rallying 
Day, for a new and thorough canvass of the school's field for 
all children and youth now outside of Bible schools. 

Some Boards of Publication and Sabbath-school Work fur- 
nish blank-books for canvassers, containing hints as to how to 
canvass ; also cards of invitation. 

Let us begin aright our autumn work for our Lord. Jesus 
himself is with us ; let us realize his presence in our hearts and 
in our school. 

CATCH THEM YOUNG. 

REV. GERARD B. F. HALLOCK. 

That saintly man, Ashbel Green, at the close of his suc- 
cessful life, said : " If I had my ministry to go over again I 
would give more attention to the children." Dr. J. G. Hol- 
land, thirty years ago, said : " We can raise more Christians by 
juvenile Christian culture than by adult conversion— a thou- 
sand times more." Bishop Simpson, of blessed memory, with 
almost prophetic vision said : " I am satisfied that the day is 
coming when, in our church, and in all churches of the world, 
we shall look chiefly to the conversion of children, and as a 



RALLYING DAY. 215 

comparatively rare instance to the conversion of those in 
maturer years." Indeed, what a flood of light and encourage- 
ment pours over all our efforts for the young as we study 
God's Word and the experience of men ! The work is worthy 
of, and, contrary to far too common an impression, demands, 
the choicest talent. 

Not long ago we overheard a young lady talking about her 
brother, who had just entered the medical profession. She 
confessed that he was not much of a physician yet, but he had 
gotten far enough along to doctor babies ! 

Whether the undertakers and the mothers agreed in the 
verdict is not ascertained ; but this we know, that little lives 
go out so easily and so quickly that of all people babies need 
the best of professional skill ; and we are glad to see that they 
have it. The application to our Sunday-schools and all forms 
of work for the young is obvious. For is it not true that it is 
our too-often-neglected primary departments which need and 
are entitled to the very best of all the teachers — the choicest 
to be had ? Children are impressible. They believe what is 
told them. Thoughts of God, of Christ, of eternity, of right 
or wrong, move them more quickly and abide longer in their 
fresh young souls than in the more hardened natures of adults. 
There is wise strategy in winning them to Christ while they 
are young. 

There is an old story about a little fish which cried out to 
the man who had caught it, saying, " Let me go ; I am too 
small to be worth much ; wait until I'm larger ! " " No, no," 
said the man, as he put the fish in his basket ; " if I wait until 
you are larger you will not bite the hook." The junior depart- 
ments in our Sunday-schools and Christian Endeavor Societies 
are designed to catch them young ; to hook and to hold them 
while they are small. It is true wisdom which teaches us to 
care diligently, with all affection, reverence, and intelligence, 
for the children while they are impressible and plastic, and to 
remember that the most painstaking labor bestowed upon them 
is ever richly rewarded. Wisest engagement for any of us is 



2i6 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

this of winning little lives into the ways of peace. It has been 
said that in the world of childhood all posterity lies before us. 
Work for the children is, indeed, work for all time to come. 
Here the future is in our hands ; and to mold them to the love 
and service of God is to mold the unending ages. 

Then, too, there is no grander monument we could raise to 
our own memories than through the children educated in the 
fear of God and to walk in his ways. We all wish to be re- 
membered. The desire is natural. Here, then, is a region 
where our work is everlasting. For the children are immortal, 
and the good written upon them will endure to shine forth in 
lives of brightness for ever and ever. 

Herald and Presbyter. 

REAWAKENING. 

The hearts of many, pastors and people, are at times 
especially burdened with desire for a revival of interest in re- 
ligious work — a quickening of the church and the conversion 
of the impenitent. Here and there a revival spirit is manifest 
to a greater or less extent, and reports reach us of church- 
awakenings and the ingathering of souls. In these favored 
places hope revives and joy reigns. 

It is quite likely that in the most of these places the revival 
has come after a period — it may be for years — in which no 
revival has occurred. A revival means a reawakening after a 
season of decline in spiritual life, or at least of considerable 
inattention to the labors and harvests of religion. It is quite 
possible for a church to manifest what has been called a con- 
stant survival to such a degree as in the nature of the case to 
preclude what has been commonly designated a revival. The 
old-time revivals almost invariably came as reactions from 
seasons of spiritual lethargy and death such as are far less 
common to-day than formerly ; albeit there are communities in 
which grave relapses from faith and works exist. 

Evangelists of to-day experience a disadvantage, so to 
speak, as compared with the old-time revivalists, who usually 



RALLY IXC DAY. 217 

found conditions more favorable to the phenomena of revival 
than generally exist to-day. There never was a time when the 
churches in general were so near to the manifestation of a con- 
stant survival as to-day. The Master has fewer avowed ene- 
mies than formerly. Christianity is not so much rejected to- 
day as received with qualifications of the old-time teachings. 
These qualifications may not in all cases be according to truth ; 
but the old-time teachings were not always according to truth. 
Many a man who, fifty years ago, would have confessed that 
he was not a Christian will hesitate to do that to-day, and if 
pressed for an answer will declare himself a Christian in his 
understanding of the term. It is easier to get such a confes- 
sion to-day than formerly, but it is harder to secure the 
phenomena of a general religious "revival." There is both 
more of the Christian spirit in society and also more general 
activity in the churches. 

A vast multitude of organizations exist in connection with 
the church that formerly had no existence. The energy that 
used to be pent up, and let out through the vent of revival 
meetings, is now drawn on continuously in a hundred different 
ways. Whether tested by the amount of money given for re- 
ligious and benevolent work, or by the degree to which time 
and strength are consumed in religious and reformatory work, 
we believe it will be found that the churches generally nowa- 
days do not allow the conditions to be produced which were 
usually back of the old-fashioned " reformations." 

And yet to any church may, and doubtless should, come 
increase of spirituality, involving a corresponding decrease of 
worldliness. This let Christians devoutly pray for, and by 
godly lives and examples seek to hasten. 

Morning Star. 

RALLYING DAY AND AFTER. 

EDWARD T. BROMFIELD, D.D. 

Both in city and country the close of summer marks a turn- 
ing-point in the year. How natural that with the subsidence 



218 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

of the enervating heat and the settling down of people to or- 
dinary ways — with the coming back of energy to mind and 
body, and the call to earnest thought and action in life's 
battle — the churches and Sabbath-schools should summon 
their forces together and take fresh note of the calls of Provi- 
dence and duty. This " turning over a new leaf," this careful 
survey of the field, this reunion of comrades, this planning for 
a fresh campaign, may be made an occasion of great moment 
to many souls, and of a great revival of zeal and activity in 
the Master's service. 

The program of exercises for the Sabbath-school on Rally- 
ing Day should be of the simplest kind, but at the same time 
so comprehensive as to bring to the front the various working- 
forces of the school and church. It would be well to point 
out what the school is doing or trying to do to extend the 
kingdom of Christ ; what it has contributed to the various mis- 
sion boards ; how many new recruits were brought in during 
the year ; how many joined the church ; how many recited the 
catechism and received Bibles. Brief reports of this kind, not 
forgetting a special report from the Young People's Society, 
which on this occasion should be invited to join in the services, 
would be in order. The selections from Scripture should be 
read responsively. Spirited hymns and melodies should be 
chosen. The pastor should give a few specially prepared 
counsels, and if possible good speakers from a distance should 
be invited to speak on special topics. Everything should be 
done to give emphasis to the thought that this is a joyful and 
a good day — a day of special dedication of time and service 
for carrying the gospel invitation to outsiders and bringing in 
new recruits to the school. 

But Rallying Day is only the first page of a chapter of what 
should be hearty and joyful work in coming weeks and months. 
Canvassing for new scholars is to many persons a disagreeable 
duty. A little time spent in a comparison of methods and the 
relation of experiences will give zest to the work. A division 
of labor will often make it light, and good fellowship will often 



RALLYING DA V. 219 

make it pleasant. There was more meaning than we some- 
times see in the act of our Lord when he sent forth his dis- 
ciples " two and two," and in the wisdom with which he selected 
for each his companion in toil. Nor should the canvassing be 
merely perfunctory in character — a call, a question, a timid 
invitation, a retreat. There must be wise persistence in well- 
doing ; an effort to discover the hindrances and to overcome 
them if possible. In some cases a little personal interest or 
a little help in clothing will work wonders. To win souls 
we must often " lay siege to them." But what joy is there not 
in the winning ! If angels in heaven rejoice, we who in a 
mundane sphere are also permitted to be messengers of salva- 
tion may rejoice likewise. And this joy of soul-saving — who 
can describe it ? Presbyterian Banner. 



A RALLYING DAY FOR THE CHURCH. 

EDWARD T. BROMFIELD, D.D. 

If it be a good thing to call the forces of the Sabbath-school 
together at this season of the year for a united movement, why 
is it not equally proper to rally all the forces of the church at 
the same time for the same purpose ? 

It may possibly be objected that the spirit of Rallying Day 
should be perennial, and that to make one special day in the 
year the occasion for a fresh start is to dwarf the importance 
of all other days. Such an objection does not take into ac- 
count that peculiarity of the human character which needs the 
help of special celebrations to emphasize truths which other- 
wise might lose some of their power over us. 

Let, then, the advent of the autumnal season be signalized 
by the rallying of all the church's interests and institutions — 
the prayer-meeting, the missionary associations, the ladies' so- 
cieties, and all branches of church-work. Let the pulpit catch 
the enthusiasm. Let the pews be filled. Let Zion "awake," 
" put on strength," and " perform her vows." 



220 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Where are our young men ? Where are our older boys ? 
A teacher writes : " They drift away from us somewhere be- 
tween the ages of twelve and eighteen, and very many of them 
never come back. How shall we keep them while we have 
them ? " Let the church bring all her influence to bear upon 
young men and lads to prevent their drifting away ! Let her 
summon them to Rallying Day ! 

Christian Endeavorers, will you not join in this celebration, 
calling your members together, speaking with one another of 
the Sabbath-school, of your experiences in its service, of the 
methods by which its usefulness may be increased, and praying 
for its prosperity ? 

The will of God is heard in these great spontaneous move- 
ments in our church. When the hearts of multitudes are 
being influenced by one great spiritual thought and purpose, 
the people of God should nowhere stand aloof. Let them take 
up the word and pass it on ! Let them swell the shout, the 
song, the chorus, till the old earth echo and reecho the "joy- 
ful noise," and the very mountains " break forth into singing " ! 

There is urgent need, on all hands, for the rallying of God's 
forces to meet the enemy at our gates. 



HARVEST-HOME SERVICE. 



Historical. — The early history of the Hellenic races often brings 
out the fact that, though professing descent from the gods, they are 
found in possession of customs belonging to an older civilization. 
Our veneration for the fathers of New England must not allow us 
to suppose that they created an institution wholly new. The May- 
flower had for its passengers liberty-loving Englishmen, separated 
only so far as conscience commanded from their native land. The 
seed of many an organism, ecclesiastical, civil, and social, often 
thought to have been original, they brought with them, to be 
planted in a new soil and developed in its environment as a new 
variety. While we forget not the seed, those new conditions had 
a force, rarely enough considered, in determining their action in 
church and state, in which opinions and practices, which some 
professed to love still as they left old England, seem to have been 
lost at sea. 

It is an undisputed fact that the thanksgiving day which the 
English colonists brought with them to Plymouth, Salem, Boston, 
and Hartford was a religious day, not of annual recurrence, but 
proclaimed, as occasion arose, for victories, rains, harvests, and all 
providential deliverances. This thanksgiving day they had ob- 
served in England. The Puritans, when forced to give up the 
keeping of Christmas, Easter, and saints' days on account of the 
sacrilege attending them, chose fast and thanksgiving days in their 
stead, and consecrated them entirely to holy uses. They spent 
the time in their churches. It was a Sabbath. There was no 
feasting, nor any family gathering. So if you think the Pilgrims 
were altogether a "solemn folk," remember that they developed 
our Thanksgiving day out of this strictly religious day of their 
fathers. It is our purpose briefly to show how this transformation 
came about. 

In the autumn of 162 1 the Pilgrims had their first holiday sea- 
son. The occasion is so important that the passage from Mourt's 
" Relation " is given in full: "Our harvest being gotten in, our 
Governour sent foure men on fowling, that so we might after a 
more speciale manner rejoyce together, after we had gathered the 
fruit of our labours, they foure in one day killed as much fowle, 

223 



224 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

as with a little helpe beside, served the Company almost a weeke, 
at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Armes, 
many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest 
their greatest King Massasoyt, with some ninetie men, whom for 
three dayes we entertained and feasted, and they went out and 
killed fine Deere, which they brought to the Plantation and be- 
stowed on our Governour, and upon the Captaine and others. 
And although it be not alwayes so plentifull, as it was at this time 
with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so farre from want, 
that we often wish you partakers of our plentie." 

This has been generally termed the " first autumnal Thanksgiv- 
ing day " in New England — the inauguration of the harvest festi- 
val. That it was a harvest festival cannot be disputed, but the 
passage itself shows that it was not a day of religious thanksgiving 
to God, such as they observed at other times. It was not a day 
set apart for worship, but a whole week of festivity. No religious 
service is spoken of, and it is doubtful if any was held, other than 
their customary morning devotions. The Sabbath exercises which 
bounded the week might have been specially permeated with a 
thanksgiving spirit, but this season was not ordered as were thanks- 
giving days. The Pilgrims had come to Plymouth as a church, 
and as such they followed the practices of separatist congregations 
in England. They named thanksgiving days by a vote of the 
church. There the authority was originally vested in all the New 
England colonies, though at an early date it was, for convenience, 
transferred to the State — first to the General Court and afterward 
to the governor and council; in Connecticut to the court in 1639 
and to the governor and magistrates as well in 1655. Prior to 1639, 
in Connecticut Colony, the Hartford and Windsor churches ap- 
pointed their own days. In 1638 Windsor kept Wednesday, Oc- 
tober 3d, Hartford, Thursday, October 4th. Until the time of Gov- 
ernor Andros it was the prerogative of the churches through their 
ministers to move the civil authorities for the appointment of a 
Thanksgiving day ; but the royal governor took the matter into his 
own hands, and royal governors since have followed his example. 
We cannot imagine the church of John Robinson moving for the 
keeping of Plymouth's festival week as a religious service. They 
would surely have been shocked at recreations during a religious 
season. Bradford relates how, on the Christmas day following, 
most of the new-comers excused themselves from going to work 
from conscientious scruples, whom the governor found at noontime 
" pitching ye bare " and "playing at stoole-ball." He thereupon 
confiscated their " implements" and bade them keep their houses 
if they made the keeping of the day "a matter of devotion," in 
which action he mirthfully justified himself by the claim that it 
"was against his conscience that they should play and others 
worke." It was this very mingling of sports with religious services 
that they had condemned in England. They would not have \q\~ 



HARVEST-HOME SERVICE. 225 

erated ball-playing on one of their religions thanksgivi)ig days ; 
but we have no doubt the governor himself and the doughty cap- 
tain, after having been satisfied with goodly venison, watched ap- 
provingly the victors in games of stoole-ball during that festival 
week. Those who say this was the " first autumnal Thanksgiving 
day " need not be so hard on those who prefer foot-ball to stoole- 
ball. The Pilgrims did not keep it as such, but they were uncon- 
sciously inaugurating influences which would eventually transform 
the character of their ecclesiastical thanksgiving day. 

The theory has been advanced by some that this festival week was 
suggested by the " Feast of Ingathering " known in Jewish history. 
All harvest festivals, whether among Christians or heathens, must 
be the same in essence. Only in respect to its intent and duration 
could this of Plymouth be compared to that in which worship and 
sacrifice were the burden of its ritual. John Robinson makes an 
extended reference to the Jewish feast as kept by Ezra, and finds 
only a solemn religious character attaching to it. The Pilgrims 
would not have patterned a festival after that and omitted its es- 
sential religious features. They were not cutting their cloth after 
any ancient fashion-plate. 

It is more probable that this festival week had a kinship to the 
harvest-home of England. The gathering in of the harvest was 
the main thought in the celebration ; so it had been in England. 
It corresponded in point of duration. Richard Carew, in his " Sur- 
vey of Cornwall," says of the English harvest festival, "Neither 
doth the good cheer wholly expire (though it somewhat decrease) 
but with the end of the weeke." There was no bringing home, 
with much ceremony, from the field, of the last shock of corn, fan- 
tastically arrayed in brilliant finery; no "blessing of the cart" or 
" kissing of the sheaves " ; no harvest-song so familiar in the father- 
land. 

Here's a health to the barley-mow ; 

Here's a health to the man 

Who very well can 
Both harrow and plow and sow. 



They had no taste for ceremonies, and their surroundings in the 
wilderness were not suitable for them. Still they exhibited the 
worthier and more sensible elements of their English harvest-home. 
The master and servant had the old-time fellowship at the feast, 
and the new-time guest, with his royal crown of eagle feathers, 
was a most fitting lord of such forest bounty. Their "hockey- 
cake" was of the proper sort, and the goose, if not of aristocratic 
lineage, was much to their liking. Surely if this occasion is to be 
judged by analogy it had affinities with old England. But it seems 
most likely that this harvest celebration — though it may have been 
suggested by harvest customs in their native land— arose naturally 



226 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

in the midst of their circumstances as the occasion demanded. It 
was an inspiration. Its significance is rather in its idea. 

Herein is the charm of that festivity: it displays the brighter side 
of our forefathers' characters. Religion had its place, but they 
were not averse to recreations and amusements. They looked 
with sad concern, no doubt, upon the mature faces of their children, 
and sought to cheer them by joining them at play. That festival 
week was the first time they had dared to take from their labors 
for merrymaking. The grand hunt of the four prime shots was 
an event. The muster of the military, before the admiring eyes 
of wives and sisters, was an appropriate laudation of soldierly duty. 
Hospitality to their Indian friends was a winsome lesson to those 
savage hearts. So the Pilgrims, because they believed in social 
pleasures, from their poverty of time kept that royal feast. 

There was something prophetic of the Thanksgiving dinner of 
their descendants in the occasion. The provisions must have been 
bountiful, for there were about one hundred and forty persons, 
including the ninety of Massasoit's company, who were entertained 
for three days. Rare opportunity was afforded the Pilgrim mothers 
of the households, into which the colonists were divided, for the arts 
of cooking. All had their share of the supplies. Various kinds of 
sea-food were at hand ; oysters the Indians brought them as de- 
sired. Ducks of the choicest varieties, highly prized by the epi- 
cures of the present day ; geese that would have done honor to 
the Michaelmas feast of England ; game of tempting flavor, from 
roasted venison to broiled partridge; and, above all— facile firin- 
ceps of the New England feast — the turkey, of which they found 
a great store in the forest, and which they thus early crowned 
queen of their bounty, to which their descendants have been loyal, 
if they have failed to imitate them in other respects — these all 
garnished their tables throughout the harvest week. Kettles, 
skillets, and spits were overworked, while thus their pewter plates, 
spoons, knives, and skewers, which were kindly assisted by their 
fingers, made merry. Nor were these meats without the company 
of the barley-loaf and the cakes of Indian meal more highly prized 
than wheat-fed millions can imagine. As to the abundance of their 
vegetables we have the poetic testimony of the governor himself — 
for his excellency wrote poetry, the lines of which were measured, 
not by dactylic or iambic feet, but by the twelve-inch rule ; 

"All sorts of grain which our own land doth yield 
Was hither brought, and sown in every field ; 
As wheat and rye, barley, oats, beans and pease 
Here all thrive, and they profit from them raise. 
All sorts of roots and herbs in gardens grow — 
Parsnips, carrots, turnips, or what you'll sow, 
Onions, melons, cucumbers, radishes, 
Skirrets, beets, cole worts, and fair cabbages." 



HARVEST-HOME SERVICE. 227 

They had a taste, too, for what they called "sallet herbs," and 
the pumpkins climbed their cornstalks as they have ever since. 
Wild grapes they had, and we can almost detect the smack when 
we read their words "very sweete and strong," whose sweetness 
might have added strength on opportunity. The fact is that, 
though we know so little of the home life of the Pilgrims, we know 
enough to warrant that their harvest festival was worthy of its In- 
dian guests, and altogether creditable to their descendants. 

The occasion was unique, and not in itself adapted to be perpet- 
uated in such proportions. As the peach-tree puts forth its tinted 
bloom before its abiding foliage, so this harvest festival, which was 
not the Puritan thanksgiving day, was the bursting into life of a 
new institution, the promise of autumnal feasts to come. 

Rev. W. De Loss Love in Religious Herald. 



A FARMER'S SONG* 

JOHN CLIFFORD, D.D. 

Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, 

And look well to thy herds : 

For riches are not forever ; 

And doth the crown endure unto all generations? 

The hay is carried, and the tender grass showeth itself, 

And the herbs of the mountain are gathered in. 

The lambs are for thy clothing, 

And the goats are the price of the field : 

And there will be goat's milk enough for thy food, 

For the food of thy household ; 

And maintenance for thy maidens. 

Prov. xxvii. 23-27. 

The Revised Version of this section of the Book of Prov- 
erbs is so printed as to suggest that these eleven lines form 
a brief but complete song. There is a slight and intentional 
break in the continuity of the verses in this part of the chap- 
ter. The eleven lines make five verses ; but they stand apart 
like a statue, detached from all that goes before and from all 
that succeeds and surrounds. They have the wholeness and 
independence of a finished product, as though they formed a 

* A sermon preached in Westbourne Park Chapel, London. 



228 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION'. 

single hymn in one of our usual collections of song, and could 
be identified by a specific number and a special heading. 

A slight examination of the text shows that as the life of a 
tree or of a child determines the shape of the oak or of the 
boy, so the poetical completeness and literary finish of this 
Scripture is due to the life breathed into it by its author. It 
is a creation, and has the individuality of its creator impressed 
on it. It is like a sonnet, for it has one idea and beats with 
one emotion. It is a picture, and one formative purpose ap- 
pears over the whole canvas. The scenery is rural, vivid, and 
interesting; the grouping of the successive figures is orderly 
and firm — orderly with the logical sequence of life, and firm 
with the coherence and sharpness of outline due to the mastery 
of soul over body. 

It is a psalm, though found in the Book of Proverbs ; and 
although it does not match the peerless shepherd-song in 
sylvan loveliness, pure, calm, and soaring hopes, yet it is like 
it in its key-note of trust in God, its love of nature and life, 
and its rural beauty. 

We are not so familiar with this farmer's song as with other 
odes in this book. Cooped up in great cities, stirred and ab- 
sorbed by the excitement of an industrial era, we have neither 
time nor desire for the homely music of this rural harper. 
The strong feeling, dramatic picturing, and passionate appeals 
of the pathetic poem on drunkenness have struck responsive 
chords in every reader's heart. Few of us forget the ruined 
field of the sluggard, with its nettles and weeds, gaping walls 
and broken gates, and the companion picture of the lazy 
sleeper turning over and over in his sloth till he is aroused by 
the attack of want as a weaponed warrior breaking into his 
bedroom to punish him for his idleness. But we have given 
scant attention to the rustic singer who tells us of the farmer's 
risks, notes the succession of the farmer's crops, sets open the 
door and shows us his well-ordered household, and seeks both 
to quicken industry and inspire faith in the farmer's God. 
True, the song springs clear and clean out of the natural soil 



HARVEST-HOME SERVICE. 229 

of the farmer's life, but it travels to the very steps of the 
throne of the Eternal Father. It is, indeed, a simple pastoral, 
and might be regarded as the farmer's vade-mecum ; but surely 
it is also a gospel, a gladdening message for him as he drives 
the plow over the field or counts his sheep on the hills ; and, 
like all God's gospels, it has a warning word to drive out the 
lassitude that comes of bad seasons and the despair that sets 
in after misfortune. Commonplace as the theme doubtless is, 
yet the Hebrew poet sings in order that with us " the melodies 
may abide of the everlasting clime " ; and we, carrying his 
" music in our hearts," may " ply our daily tasks with busier 
feet," because our "secret souls this holy strain repeat." 

It can hardly be doubted that this is the song of a man of 
the soil, a son of labor, who describes the farmer's life not 
from the serene heights of observation, but from the realities 
of personal experience. He is the child of a pastoral people ; 
a member of a community that found the " ox " and the 
" ass " mentioned twice in the great " Ten Words," and again 
and again in the subsidiary regulations for their social life, and 
to whom farming was so central an interest that they held 
and taught that " the profit of the earth is for all," and even 
"the king is served by the field." He was a Hebrew yeo- 
man, industrious and reflective, wise and godly, with a quick 
eye for the beauty of ever-varying nature, and a strong love 
for the simple economies and deep content of the farmer's life. 
He was a poet. The words he selects are pictures, vivid 
metaphors. The state of the flocks is to be seen in their 
" faces " ; in the " look " of the eye, the poise of the head, the 
firmness or weakness of step. He notes the succession of the 
months ; the carting of the hay, followed by the fresh, green, 
new crop ; the lambs slowly manufacturing garments for win- 
ter wear ; the goats giving milk for the daily subsistence of the 
house. 

It is in that last touch that the interest of the singer centers. 
The human is supreme. The home gives to the fields their 
meaning, to the cattle their service, and to the farm its beauty. 



230 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

He is no dreamer lost to life in admiration of the " common 
countenance of earth and sky," but a brother man with soul 
enough to see the poetry of ordinary human lives — lives far 
more akin to drudgery than to romance. To him the man at 
the plow and the maidens milking the goats are children of 
God, with hopes and fears, with love and sorrow ; living on 
the farm and by it, and getting through it their education and 
discipline, their wealth of happiness and character ; and there- 
fore his poem does not recall the skilful handling and elaborate 
treatment of Virgil's " Georgics," but the sympathy, humanity, 
and faith of the Ayrshire plowman. He is the Robert Burns 
of the Hebrew singers, who 

... In his glory and his joy 
Followed the plow along the mountain-side, 

and sang to his comrades of his labor, with the desire to lighten 
their burdens and perfect their trust, assured that 

To mak' a happy fireside clime 

To weans and wife, 
That's the true pathos sublime 

Of human life. 

The pastoral is an instruction. Therefore it begins by tell- 
ing the farmer to " be diligent to know the state " or condition 
— the general "look" — of his " flocks." Poetry is practical. 
" Every great poet is a teacher, or he is nothing," said Words- 
worth. The poet's business is with life — the making of men's 
feelings more sane, pure, and permanent, the gift of new and 
wider horizons of thought and higher moods of emotion, the 
stimulus of will, and the increase of achievement. 

Still the exhortation, though energetic, is pensive. It is in 
a minor key. Life is full of change. Seasons vary. Times 
are bad. Fortune is fickle. Prosperity is a winged bird ; 
and be it never so beautiful, and the cage in which you have 
locked it never so secure, it may fly away. Acres covered 
with corn call aloud for the reaper, but the only response is 



HARVEST-HOME SERVICE. ±31 

the ceaseless, drenching rain. The farmer sighs for sunshine, 
and he gets for answer 

The death-dumb autumn's dripping gloom. 

Even the " diadem " — the token that separates the king 
from his people — does not continue from generation to gen- 
eration. The brightest honors fade. The fine gold dims. 
Wealth decays. With the one touch of passion that makes 
the poem — the one outleap of the flame of feeling — he says, 
"And surely the crown of the king" — the most distinguishing 
possession — " does not last." " Make hay," therefore, " while 
the sun shines." Give heed to "littles." Consider well thy 
" small cattle," the sheep and goats. It is in the little econ- 
omies that the battle is lost or won. It is the alertness that 
takes time by the forelock that gains the prize. Take care of 
the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves. Seize 
and use the present moment. Very homely counsels, indeed, 
are these, and read like quotations from Poor Richard ; but 
then the happiness of life depends upon the steady practice of 
the every-day virtues of carefulness, industry, and promptitude. 
Three fourths of our life is on this low level, and the way we 
behave thereon settles at once our present happiness and the 
quality and worth of the remaining fourth. " He that is 
faithful in a very little is faithful also in much." 

He will be likely to acquire two other qualifications on 
which the farmer's well-being depends : " the open eye " and 
the dedicated will. According to the Hebrew poet the suc- 
cessful husbandman must give heed to know the " look " of his 
cattle, and " put his heart into his work for his herds." He is 
a doctor, and must go about his fields swift to note the changes 
in the condition of his sheep and goats as soon as they occur, 
and supply that physicianly aid which will ward off disease 
and keep them in full health. "A horse requires more care 
than a child," said a coachman to me ; and certainly the 
farmer who has not what Carlyle calls an " open eye " will 
not be likely to have a productive farm. 



232 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION". 

Do not despise your work. Do it well. Be a whole man 
to it while you are at it. Israel's great men did not think it 
beneath them to inspect their flocks. The patriarchs were 
shepherds and cultivators of the soil. Job was a shepherd. 
Moses was a shepherd. David looked well after his flocks. 
Gideon was accosted by God when he was threshing wheat. 
A great and noble life does not depend on rank or place, but 
on purpose, faith, love, character, and service. 

But it is in the latter part of the song that we find the good 
news. If the first verse enjoins carefulness, wisdom, alacrity, 
and devotion, and the second enforces the practice of these 
virtues* on the ground of the uncertainties of the farmer's life, 
then the three verses following console him with the assurance 
of the bounty of God, and the indefeasible and incomputable 
compensations of nature and Providence. This " Comfort 
ye, comfort ye my people," begins with a rural harvest-scene, 
where, after the plentiful ingathering of the hay, one sees the 
new grass starting forth and covering the meadows again. 
For the earth is not dead after its first yield ; the second crop 
appears, and, when the fodder of the mountain-slopes has 
been gathered in and the barns are filled with plenty, the hus- 
bandman still has his lambs with their warm wool for clothing, 
and the goats, some of which may be sold for the rent of the 
field, while the rest supply the milk needed for the mainte- 
nance of the house. 

So the life of agricultural industry has better guaranties 
than the crowns of kings. Husbandry is more secure than 
the treasures of the great. Nature is exhaustlessly reproduc- 
tive. Let men have free access to and free use of it, and its 
cultivation will be a sure source of support for the family and 
a source of progress for the nation. " He that tilleth his land 
shall have plenty of bread." Mother Earth cares for her 
children. The landscape of the farm is full of divine feeling 
and rich in suggestions that inspire calm and quicken indus- 
try. It throbs with the tender heart of God. It is alive. In 
its simple and steady processes it reveals the Father's care for 



HARVEST-HOME SERVICE. ±33 

his child, and invites him to steady and healthful toil, in obe- 
dience to its laws, and to calm-bringing trust in him in response 
to his love. 

. . . The dim, green-mantled earth 
Warm cherished every floweret's birth. 

" The grass growing on the mountains," " the year crowned 
with goodness," are all guides to " the paths of God " — the 
paths that " drop fatness," that drop " upon the pastures of 
the wilderness " and make " the little hills rejoice on every 
side." 

So the spirit breathed throughout this song is that of trust 
in the great loving and superintending Farmer, the Husband- 
man-in-chief, who never forgets his children, and to whom 
our common lives, with their daily toils and sorrows, their 
faith and hope, are unspeakably dear. It links our humble 
working-life with the will and the work of the Eternal, and 
assures us of the care of the Highest for the shepherd on the 
hill and the plowman in the field and the milkmaid at the 
stall. It anticipates — dimly, it must be confessed, but really 
— the assurance given us by Jesus that our Heavenly Father 
knows what things we have need of before we ask him ; and 
that we may leave to him the care of our lives if only we will 
care first for his kingdom and his righteousness. Let not 
your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe in nature, 
and do your duty ; and the farm life, with its regular round of 
duties, its simple loves, its high thoughts, its wise economies, 
its immediate touch of earth, its charming gossip, its pleasant 
human interests, and its many windows through which we 
may catch sight of the face of God, will yield us all we need 
for a simple, manly, godly life. 

The farmer is credited with an exceptional gift for grum- 
bling. That verdict lacks proof. Some of the most serene 
and trustful souls I have known have grown up in goodness 
and service by the aid of agricultural industry. Ruskin says 
that "supposing all circumstances otherwise the same with 



2 34 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

respect to two individuals, the one who loves nature most will 
always be found to have more faith in God than the other." 
The husbandman is close to the heart of nature, lives in touch 
with God, and so, more than many, shares his deep content, 
his tranquillity, and builds up a character of hardy indepen- 
dence, of kindly considerateness for his servants, and of help- 
ful ministry to the poor. May our study of this song make 
our spirit more trustful, our characters more strong, and our 
lives more sunny! 



" HARVEST-HOME." 

J. BYINGTON SMITH. 

The " harvest-home " we sing with cheer, 
Now that abundance crowns the year; 
The God of harvests now we praise, 
To him our thanks a tribute raise ; 
For he our anxious care relieves 
While reapers home come bringing sheaves, 
Till filled are cellars, barns, and bin, 
With harvests which are gathered in. 

The seeds, which were by handfuls sown, 
Were into richest harvests grown ; 
And reapers reaped the golden grain 
While binders followed in their train, 
And wagons each with heavy load 
Were seen along the homeward road. 

Of old, the reapers of the grain 
Over the fields went not again, 
But what was left the gleaners had, 
So gleaners were with reapers glad ; 
And reapers, too, must corners leave, 
For gleaners also these receive. 



HARVEST-HOME SERVICE. 235 

This was not something very rare 
Of Boaz' field when Ruth was there, 
For reapers oft let handfuls fall, 
Nor greedy they to gather all ; 
And well were still this law in force, 
And elsewhere in the reapers' course 
The handfuls now were lying round 
On purpose that they might be found, 
Or other reapers be inclined 
E'en sheaves of grain to leave behind. 

Then all these fruits and ripened grain, 
Which often leaves and chaff remain, 
Remind that we should let appear 
Not leaves alone, but fruit, each year, 
And store the soul and heart and brain 
Not just with chaff, but ripened grain. 

And as by fruits we each are known, 
Sow seeds from which the fruits are grown; 
And if not known by dress we wear, 
But rather by the sheaves we bear, 
Should gather up some sheaves each day, 
And waste not precious lives away ; 
And be prepared, like shocks of corn, 
To hail the resurrection mom, 
That when for us the reapers come, 
Angels shall shout the " harvest-home." 

Watchman. 

AT HARVEST-TIME. 

One of the Saviour's most solemn parables is concerning 
the harvest-time of life, of which he says plainly, " The harvest 
is the end of the world." Throughout the realm of nature 
this is a cheery, joyous season. On every side the fair earth 



236 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

is yielding her most precious and life-preserving products. 
The sound of the gleaners cutting, cradling, stacking, and 
binding the golden grain, the threshers separating wheat and 
chaff, the sweet breath of garnered hay and corn — the com- 
bined gifts of field, orchard, and garden — bring welcome 
promise of abundance and good cheer for the coming months, 
when neither sign of leaf nor verdure will show above the 
frozen and snow-clad earth. So much, ah, so much depends 
upon the harvest- time ! If the corn-field, the vineyard, and 
the orchard show but a meager supply as the result of the 
kind of seed sown in the spring ; if meadow and garden yield 
but indifferently, only partially filling the high lofts and wide 
bins which should be filled to repletion, how serious the out- 
look for man and beast! It was for the future — the long, 
barren months to come — that the farmer plowed, sowed, and 
planted when the year was young; and if at the end — at 
harvest-time — an insufficient showing proves lack of care on 
his part he will share the blame and shame of an unprofitable 
servant indeed. 

In language so clear that the unlearned and the young can 
understand, the Saviour, in the parable of the wheat and the 
tares, shows that all along the journey of life mankind are 
sowing seed of some kind, which at the end of life is going to 
produce a harvest, the sure outcome of the kind of seed sown. 
Nature is inflexible in certain results, founded and fixed by the 
great Creator of nature and her laws. What the farmer sows 
he will be sure to reap. Never yet since the world began have 
men gathered grapes from a bush of thorn, or figs from a tuft 
of thistles. And every one throughout Christendom who is 
old enough and intelligent enough to read the Bible must 
know and understand that he occupies the place of a sower 
who will ultimately reap whatever is sown in the heart as to 
religious or irreligious belief, as to faith in Christ as a Re- 
deemer, or as to indifference concerning the final condition of 
the soul. Christian at Work. 



HARVEST-HOME SERVICE. 237 



THE GLORIES OF AUTUMN. 

Every season of the varied year possesses beauties and 
attractions peculiar to itself. Autumn is the sober season. 
Decay has struck the world. A mysterious blight, a subtle 
and pervasive poison, is in the atmosphere ; the black death 
has come to the vegetable world. The cold breath of autumn 
withers the flowers of summer and clothes nature in subdued 
colors. But the agencies of change, decay, and destruction 
operate gradually. A sudden transition from the warm glow 
of summer to the chill and frosts of late autumn would oppress 
and overpower the human race. To prevent such a calamity 
the march of the seasons is gradual. The approaches of 
autumn are so slow as to be imperceptible to the senses. 
Autumn creeps upon us stealthily ; there seems to be no 
difference from day to day ; the change is so slow that we are 
bound to believe there is no change at all. But as the blasts 
of November come we are startled to find that autumn is 
already far advanced in its course. It has come to stay and 
to complete its work of destruction. Though slow in move- 
ment, its work is sure and complete at length. There have 
been a hundred miniature autumns to round out the one 
grand season ; for each day has been a little autumn, and 
each tinged a little more deeply with sober hues than its prede- 
cessor, until we come to the fullness of the season confronting 
the great and terrible winter period of ice and snow. 

The early autumn is extremely enjoyable. Traces of sum- 
mer yet linger on the landscape. The white frosts have barely 
touched the late flowers, which yet glow upon their stems. 
But there is a tonic in the air. We feel stronger, and the sys- 
tem begins to realize a fresh elasticity. The oppressive heat 
is no more ; there is a new pleasure in being abroad in the fields 
of nature. Though indefinable, the change can be felt, and is 
always enjoyed. While early autumn is delightful, we are in- 
clined to think the best of it is found midway in late October 



238 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

and early November. When the season has become pro- 
nounced and settled there is a ripeness in everything. The 
leaves die and the fruit falls ; they die and drop because they 
have run their course. They tell of completeness and perfec- 
tion as well as of decay. We are thoughtful, but yet not sad. 
Autumn wears no weeds in coming to the goal. Her robes 
of red and gold are put on — a sort of royal attire. It is the 
crowning of the year. 

The beautiful landscape at this season — the blending of field 
and forest, of hill and vale, of the green in the meadow and 
the gold and scarlet on the hillside — is a delight to the eye. 
New England is rich in such pictures. We see them every- 
where. In passing the high midlands on the Massachusetts 
Central the scene is unsurpassed. Nature has outdone herself 
in the beauty, variety, and grandeur of the picture. No painter 
for the World's Fair or for the palaces of kings has spread 
such a canvas, or given such beauty in distribution and color. 
Every tint that could add attraction is there. The combina- 
tion of whatever is rare and rich is simply marvelous. At a 
distance of ten or fifteen miles looms in solitary grandeur the 
ample proportions of Wachusett, capped by its tower, and with 
the white village glittering high up on the shoulder. The dis- 
tant mountain is sear and sober, but the eye takes in, at the 
same glance, the huge forests stretching miles and miles away, 
in which the dark green of the pine and hemlock is contrasted 
with the gold of the chestnut, the rich red of the oak, the vivid 
brightness of the maple, the fire of the sumach, the brown 
stubble of the grain-field, and the green of the meadow, 
brightened into emerald by contrast with the colors about it. 
The picture is magnificent. The great Artist has painted 
some of his most remarkable works in solitary places. They 
are not removable to the great art galleries. Whoever would 
enjoy the sight must get out of the turmoil of the world by 
going where they are. They admit of only pilgrim worshipers 
who are prepared to take staff and scrip and to put off their 
shoes in the presence of this manifestation of God in his mar- 



HARVEST-HOME SERVICE. 239 

velous works in nature. New England is rich in her hills. 
There is no such scenery anywhere else. Is it wonderful that 
her children become attached to the soil ? The prairies have 
wealth ; New England has what no money can buy. 

Zio?i's Herald. 



HARVEST-SONGS. 

T. DE WITT TALMAGE. 

On earth we sang harvest-songs as the wheat came into the 
barn and the barracks were filled ; you know there is no such 
time on a farm as when they get the crops in ; and so in 
heaven it will be a harvest-song on the part of those who on 
earth sowed in tears and reaped in joy. Angels shout all 
through the heavens, and multitudes come down the hills cry- 
ing, " Harvest-home ! harvest-home ! " 



THE HARVEST-MOON. 

MARGARET E. SANGSTER. 

Over fields that are ripe with the sweetness 

That hides in the full-tasseled corn, 
Over vineyards slow reaching completeness, 

Dim purpling at dusk and at morn, 
Shine down in thine affluent splendor, 

O Moon of the year in her prime ! 
Beam soft, mother-hearted, and tender — 

Earth hath not a holier time. 

For the seed that slept long in the furrow 

Hath wakened to life and to death ; 
From the grave that was cerement and burrow 

Hath risen to passionate breath. 



240 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

It hath laughed in the sunlight and starlight, 
Hath thrilled to the breeze and the dew, 

And fallen, to stir in some far night, 
And all the old gladness renew. 

O Moon of the harvest's rich glory, 

Thy banners outflame in the sky, 
And under thee men write the story 

That cries to the heavens for reply — 
The story of work and endeavor, 

Of burden and weakness and strength ; 
The story that goes on forever, 

Through centuries dragging its length. 

And thou, ever stately and golden, 

Thou Moon of the latest year's prime, 
What sight thine eye hath beholden! 

No grief to thy pathway may climb, 
As over the fields that are reapen 

At evening, and level and shorn, 
Thou pourest thy splendors that deepen 

The rose and the silver of morn. 

Harper's Bazar, 



AN AUTUMN HOMILY. 

D. L. G. 

Once more in the procession of seasons imperial Autumn 
has come, and Nature arrays herself in loveliest garniture to 
give her greeting. In half sadness we have seen Summer, 
with her tropical fervor and voluptuous ripeness, depart, her 
ruddy arms laden with sheaves of bearded wheat, and her 
sandals white with dust. The sunlight has been dimmer 
since ; the winds pipe fitfully ; the swallows and the singing 
birds follow their patriarchs to sunnier climes ; the frost-rime 
whitens the late-blooming flowers; in the sedgy heath the 



HARVEST-HOME SERVICE. 241 

partridge whistles, and the brown pheasant drums from the 
copse ; the acorns slip from their cups, and the chestnuts burst 
their spiny bolls. 

October's touch paints all the maple leaves 
With brilliant crimson, and his golden kiss 
Lies on the clustered hazels ; scarlet glows 
The sturdy oak, and copper-hued the beech. 
A russet glory lingers on the elm ; 
The pensile birch is yellowing apace, 
And many-tinted show the woodlands all, 
With autumn's dying splendors. 

Infinite Truth reports himself, to them that have eyes to see, 
in " the things that do appear." The unconscious world with- 
out has been so made as strangely and solemnly to speak to 
the conscious world within. The poetry of nature is the re- 
ligion of Christ. It is full of symbols and parables, speaking 
jewels in the ephod of the Lord. He who bade the crimson 
lilies step forth as the gentle satirists of earthly pomp, and the 
ravens and sparrows as eloquent preachers of an evangely of 
trust in God, has consecrated the year's fading-time as the 
revelator of human mortality. The heart receives its message 
as a truth of feeling. There is a miserere in the winds ; a litany 
in the falling leaves ; a supplication in the waters ; the blue 
mists float upward as smoke from burial-urns. The earth is 
girt with brilliance, but it is the hectic brilliance of decay : 

This pomp that autumn beareth 
A funeral seems, where every guest 
A wedding-garment weareth. j 

"We all do fade as a leaf." To be sure, we witness no 
general decay to which the fall of the faded leaves is a true 
parallel. They have their "time to fall and wither at the 
north wind's breath " ; but to every period of human life decay 
is common. The autumn fading rests on some when their 
days should be yet redolent of spring. It is not alone pro- 



242 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASIOX. 

tracted years that dry up the heart and wither to its " sear and 
yellow leaf " the strength of man — their work is anticipated 
by sin and labor and disease. Some at the meridian of their 
years have left their prime in the past : the grape is rounded, 
but its purple dust is rubbed away; the cup is full, but the 
bead is dead upon the ripened wine. In infancy or youth or 
prime or age we are subject to the call that wrenches us from 
our frail supports and sends us shivering to the grave. There 
is no apparent change in the conditions of life about us, but its 
individuals ever change ; and how brief a lapse of years suffices 
to consign a whole generation to the dust ! O brother mortals, 
let us hear the threnody of the departing year as it hastens 
with gigantic footsteps to its wintry grave : " Man dieth, and 
wasteth away : yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? " 

After a while — a vanished face — 
An empty seat — a vacant place. 
After a while — a name forgot — 
A crumbled headstone — unknown spot. 

And yet the autumn is not a sad season, nor need mortality 
be a sad lesson. The gladness that perishes by any truth is 
a gladness that ought to perish. A joy put to flight by re- 
minders of the tomb is scarce worth having in such a world 
as this. The fall of foliage is but the shredding away of old, 
outworn forms. They lived for the higher life they infolded, 
they drooped and died because their substance passed into the 
tree's enduring fiber ; their beauty is lost, but found again in a 
nobler way — in the russet nut and golden fruit, or in the ma- 
jestic timber, that by their ministry has gotten power to clothe 
itself in new foliage for a hundred summers to come. And so, 
their mission ended, the leaves fade, and, fading, spread joy- 
banners over hill and dale, and fall down musically as if in 
praise. If man makes of home, society, business, possessions, 
honors, his senses, and the things that minister to sense, the 
all of life, then when these decay and pass, his very existence 



HARVEST-HOME SERVICE. 243 

seems to expire. Life is utter loss ; eternity a vast inane. 
But he who has recognized them as the perishable investiture 
of an immortal soul, and used them as purveyors to the divine 
being within, which is himself, can watch their decline and 
death with deep composure. He has them in the deposits 
their use has left in saintly character. Youth has gone, with 
its innocence and sunny dreams ; mid-life, with its manly pur- 
pose and glowing ardor ; the eye is growing dimmer ; the limb 
loses its spring and roundness, the hand its cunning ; and oh, 
how much has passed away with them! But they have been 
employed, and, fading in holy use, have left upon the death- 
less spirit the perennial beauty of the Lord its God. 

All departures in nature are singularly glorious. When, the 
storm over, earth smiles and blushes through her tears, greet- 
ing the sunshine that pours its golden tide through the swept 
and garnished skies, the retiring cloud flings across its bosom 
the rainbow's seven-tinted, peerless splendor. When the day 
goes down into her western chambers to slumber, the soft 
clouds troop around and drape her couch with hangings dyed 
and stained with dazzling glories. When night would abdicate 
her throne she draws about her canopies of intenser darkness, 
and then on her ebon breast she loops and clusters her most 
gorgeous gems, and flings the stars in glowing handfuls, as 
largess to a slumbering world. The summer ends ; the year 
prepares to double the Cape of Storms ; flowers of the deepest 
dyes are abloom ; the woods robe themselves in rare and 
sumptuous brocades — saffron and crimson, amber and russet, 
and darkest green ; no humblest thorn or vine or bramble, no 
crumbling oak-bole, no lichen on a moldering wall, but nods 
in plumes of many-colored flame. So should life close with 
man : its season of decay the period of its rarest loveliness ; 
the rich and venerable splendor of a spirit subdued, chastened, 
and enriched by loss ; a character that combines wisdom and 
strength with sweetness and tolerance ; a stately pillar wreathed 
with acanthus; and what is mortal of it, though ruined and 



244 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

decayed by the wear of years, seamed and battered by the 
shocks of toil and moil and grief, glorified at the vanishing- 
point by " the light of the glory of God " breaking on it from 
beyond. Herald and Presbyter, 



THE HARVEST-TIDE. 

Summer is over, and the autumn has already yielded much 
of its promised store. Most bright, most beautiful and de- 
lightful have summer and autumn been to us. Those long 
festival summer days, so full of grateful fragrance and happy 
song, so rich with the glory of sunshine and blue sky, of 
shower and rainbow and golden cloud, all have gone into the 
storehouse of the all-devouring past. Yet we recall them, and 
their remembrance comes sweet as the dreams of childhood 
and home and love. Autumn possesses calmer beauty and 
deeper loveliness than the summer. Growth is completed. 
The fields are at rest, and their green is bordered with russet 
and gold. The apple-trees are laden with fruit worthy of 
Eden and reminding one of the forfeited home of the fallen 
race. Paradise is not wholly gone ; rich morsels of precious 
fruitage still reward the man of well-directed toil. Its flowers 
bloom for us in summer ; its fruits ripen for us in these luscious 
September days ; its fragrance still lingers on the soft wings of 
the breeze that dances lightly over the fields which the Lord 
hath blest. 

The ever-recurring miracle of the ages is now complete : the 
seed has grown into the blade, the ear, the full corn in the ear. 
Sun, shower, breeze, kindly shadow, fervent heat, have per- 
formed the will of Him who is all and over all. And now we 
can look at our stores, and with him pronounce all very good. 
Every farmer who has plowed, sown, planted, guarded, and 
watched his fields, and finally gathered in the reward of his 
toil, has been so far a fellow-worker with God. In all the 
harvest-gatherings how much belongs to man ! Were it not 



HARVEST-HOME SERVICE. 245 

for the farmer's skill and patient industry and care, no wheat 
or corn, no bread for the hungry, no shelter from the storm. 
And yet how little man can do ! How futile all his efforts ! 
How weak his strength and fruitless his skill ! When God 
withholds the timely sunshine and shower, or when he gives 
the world to his " great army " of multitudinous rust-spores or 
other agents to arise and destroy, of how little account is all 
that we can do ! The farmer is ever a man of faith. Were 
he not a firm believer in what he has not seen he would not 
turn a furrow or sow a grain. Why should he believe in a 
morrow, in a coming summer or autumn ; in springtime or 
harvest, in growth or ripening ? It is all of faith, whether we 
will or no. The harvest is God's testimony that he is the re- 
warder of them that diligently work with him. 

What profusion of loveliness in garden and orchard, in field 
and forest, on the hills and waters ; on these marvelous morn- 
ing and evening skies — sunset sweet and heavenly as the de- 
parture of God's saints ; dawns and sunrisings that foreshadow 
from the bosom of the solemn night the resurrection to eternal 
life! Not a step can we take that does not tell us some fresh 
story written in leaf or flower or tree — in the harmless gold of 
the buttercup, in blue and white of the asters and scores of 
other flowers, and in the perennial modest loveliness of green 
grass and white-and-red cloven Then there is the beauty 
of the wild berries — scarlet, blue, purple, amber, golden ; all 
shades and shapes, fragrant, luscious, suggestive of nature's 
overflowing bounty to all that live. 

Winter sends its messages from the north, and under cover 
of the night scatters hoar-frost to remind us of what is soon to 
be. The shortening days give us longer evenings for com- 
munings by the happy fireside and for the blessed companion- 
ship of books. Cool and bracing winds strengthen the frame 
for toil, and drive away the damps and miasmas that might 
endanger health. God has opened his hand liberally, and 
filled the hungry with good things, and satisfied the desires of 
all that live. 



246 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Can this panorama of life — these changing seasons, these 
days and nights so full of glory, these flowers that flourish 
and die — can these things pass before us year by year without 
stirring the deepest thought and feeling of our souls? Under- 
stand it, comprehend it, we do not, we never can. But we 
can at least perceive and apprehend a part of the excellent 
glory around us ; we can trace the footprints and finger-marks 
of the divine Artist who never fails to combine the beautiful 
with the useful, and who seeks access to our hearts by every 
avenue of sense and reason, of faith and feeling. The light 
and power of God are on our fields, on our hills, in our valleys, 
wherever a tree grows or a seed germinates or a flower blooms ; 
wherever the sea laves the shore or a brook laughs down the 
hillside into the lake ; wherever herds graze or birds with fleet 
wing cleave the air. 

Our barns and store-rooms where we bestow the fruits of our 
toil, our tables where we partake of the bounties of Providence, 
are constant witnesses to us of God's present working. If we 
cannot rise to the thought of the skill and beauty of the Lord 
as shown in the miracle of the passing seasons, we can find his 
wisdom and kindness in the provision he has made to meet our 
wants. The Infinite bends to the finite, and lifts it up into 
touch with himself. God takes us by the hand and leads us 
through a world full of himself. He asks our sympathy, and 
teaches us to see light in his light, and where there is darkness 
to leave that meanwhile with him. 

For there is deep darkness even in this world where God is 
and which Christ has redeemed. In the midst of life we are 
in death, and in the midst of light the night is not far away. 
Singing gives place to sighing — oh, how soon and how 
often! — and pain comes to all with its dread questioning. 
The bloom perishes, the flowers fade, the grass withers, the 
leaves fall. Youth passes into maturity, and into age with its 
humiliations and infirmities. The agonies of sore sickness and 
death are too common to be forgotten for a single day. There 
is a key to all this mystery of passingness, of trouble, of pain, 



HARVEST-HOME SERVICE. 247 

and of death, and Christ holds that key. Pain he makes a 
teacher of wisdom, death he transforms into an angel of 
peace, and humiliation is the tearful prelude to exaltation. 
As clouds and rain, crashing thunder-storms, and the chill airs 
of many a night all contribute to the wealth and ripeness and 
glory of harvest, so do pain and sorrow and death ripen the 
human soul for the " harvest-home " of eternal rest. 

Presbytei'ian Witness. 



THE JOYOUS FESTIVAL OF THE LEAVES. 

The maples flung out their crimson banners weeks ago be- 
side the northern lakes and on the sides of the mountains, but 
nearer home there is only here and there a splash of scarlet 
color on the trees, all the more startling because most of the 
foliage is still so brightly green. The woodbine burns like 
fire in the sunbeams, and the leaves of the sumach and the 
berries of the mountain-ash are red as blood. The fading of 
the leaf is not a saddening spectacle in our part of the world ; it 
seems rather like a joyous array al of the trees for a festival of 
triumph. Their autumn magnificence is jubilant and imperial. 

Like the red apples on the bough and the purple grapes on 
the vines, the glory of the leaf is the fair consummation of the 
vitality of the tree. The resplendent hues of the fading leaf 
are not the colors of decay, but of maturity. It is the process 
of ripening that paints them in all their splendor. Those that 
die untimely wither without splendor. A sharp frost, which 
kills the leaves, robs them of their magnificence. The beauty 
of the leaf is the rich culmination of its vitality, not the hectic 
of decay. This suggestion of the autumn leaf is certainly an 
inspiring one, not sad, but satisfying. It is not hard to die 
when life has become full-orbed and character is complete. 
Live holily if you would have your life's autumn glorious. 
" The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way 
of righteousness." 



H% THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

The work of the leaf has been well done. It has assimilated 
the forces of the sunshine and built them into the bulk of the 
tree. When it falls its work abides. In every sturdy trunk 
remains an added ring as the record of the achievements of 
the season's leafage. Thus may it be with us. If faithful in 
our day and sphere we may leave behind us the enduring 
memorials of our noble living, grand endeavors, and patient 
endurance. The world is rich to-day with the results of the 
toils, sacrifices, and great thoughts of those whose bodies went 
to dust long ago. The leaf says to us, " You may so live that, 
being dead, you yet shall speak. No good labor is lost. In- 
fluence is immortal." 

Soon the leaves will pass to make room for others. They 
have had their day. They are unselfish. They are willing to 
get out of the way when they have fully lived and their work 
is accomplished. They do not put on mourning, but, clad in 
joyous brilliancy of color, they wait to be plucked by the spirit- 
fingers of the frost, or to be more rudely torn from the bough 
by the wandering winds. The next generation must have its 
turn, and the old leaves gladly leave the places that they have 
faithfully filled. There will be more leaves than ever on the 
trees next spring. " One generation passeth away, and another 
generation cometh : but the earth abideth forever." The happy 
and triumphant old people are those who realize that the work 
of the world is to be done better than ever after they are gone, 
and are thankful to leave room for the abundant youthful 
workers who are more than enough to fill their places. The 
crowning glory of age is joy in the abundance, the ardor, the 
enterprise, and the daring of youth. The old man has not at- 
tained his ideals, but he can cheerfully pass onward, knowing 
that humanity will still pursue them with constantly increasing 
eagerness and faith. Life's loftiest summit is a Nebo from 
which we survey the Land of Promise which others are to enter 
and to conquer. Northern Christian Advocate. 



HARVEST-HOME SERVICE. 249 

AUTUMN. 

MARCUS MARLOW. 

Hail, golden harvest days! Ye bring reward 
To honest labor ; tune glad hymns of praise 
To Him who crowns the years with mercies. Ye 
Proclaim God's faithfulness to all who toil 
In faith and hope ; who in the morning sow 
Their seed, and ne'er withhold the careful hand 
Till they receive the increase. Ye assure 
This hoping, trembling, disappointed heart 
That, though ofttimes e'en summer days are sad 
With rain, though spiritual harvests be 
Delayed, God's promises can never fail ; 
But to the waiting soul he shall appear, 
And, like the mellow autumn sunlight, shine 
In benediction on the ripened fruit. 

HARVEST THOUGHTS. 

REV. GEORGE ALFRED PAULL. 

While the harvest season marshals its reapers in the field it 
presents some pleasing though serious thoughts to all. It is a 
scene as old as the race — these waving fields of grain. Our 
Saviour saw them grow " white to the harvest " as he wandered 
with his disciples on the verdant shores of Gennesaret. His 
ancestor in humankind, the humble, gentle Ruth, gleaned 
after the reapers of Boaz in fields which, for similarity of ap- 
pearance, might be these in our western clime. Grains of 
wheat fall from the wrappings of a mummy, which, when 
planted, reproduce the harvest which ripened under Egypt's 
patient skies so many centuries ago. And even further back 
we see Noah standing by the altar of his evening sacrifice 
waiting for the Almighty's reenactment of the order of nature 



2$0 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION-. 

after its long and terrible interruption by the flood. It came 
in "the bow of promise " which shot athwart the eastern sky. 
By that symbol God entered into the harvest covenant with 
the human family, pledging hi'mself that the waters should no 
more cover the earth, but that "seed-time and harvest, cold 
and heat, summer and winter," should not cease while there 
was an earth to sow or reap. 

So the seed was sown and the harvest came ; and though 
four thousand times the tender grain has sprung up from the 
soil, that pledge has never once been violated. The harvest- 
fields form the tawny ocean which flows uninterruptedly from 
the diluvian age to this. And this is evident : that it is to the 
covenant faithfulness of God that we are indebted for the har- 
vests of each year. Let that stand as the one first great con- 
dition of the harvest. 

There is another. Place what value we will on the produc- 
tiveness of nature, on the regularity, constancy, of the seasons, 
these things are worthless of themselves. The fact is, man's 
food will not come to him of itself. It is a peculiarity of all 
the cereals that they are never found growing wild ; they 
cannot spring up spontaneously. Further, and curiously, they 
cannot prolong their existence without the care of man ; they 
are never self-sown. A neglected field of wheat or corn may in 
the first year produce a few scattered stalks of half-filled ears ; 
but soon even these disappear, and a few summers will suffice 
to obliterate every trace of grain. Thus undoubtedly is the 
sentence executed, " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat 
bread." Life depends on labor— here we have the other con- 
dition of the harvest. Man may sow and man may water, 
but God ajone gives the increase. But equally true is it that 
unless man plants and plows and reaps, seed-time and harvest 
avail him nothing. 

Then comes our dependence on the harvest. In the many 
complications of human life, the far-reaching systems of trade, 
and the vast business of the cities, we may perchance overlook 
the simple thrift and slow gains of the husbandman. If com- 



HARVEST-HOME SERVICE. 25 1 

merce is good and industries flourish and money is easy, we 
forget our absolute dependence on the field. In the wealth 
and luxury acquired in other ways we fancy we could do with- 
out agriculture. But how ? It matters not how many fleets 
bring wealth to our shores; we cannot grind our gold into 
flour. It matters not how precious are the ores from our 
mines ; without the riches of the field they are as worthless as 
the dust beneath our feet. It matters not what costly fabrics 
our manufactories turn out ; we must have food as well as 
clothing. So that back of all lies the harvest as the germ of life. 

It has been well said that " starvation, which is often within 
a day's march of countless multitudes, is once a year within a 
month of all the human family." The supply of food — how 
far is it ahead of the demand ? In this country not one year ; 
in other countries not six months. That is to say, if the har- 
vests of the world were a failure, in six months all Europe, Asia, 
and Africa would be dependent on America for the bread to 
put into their mouths, and in a twelvemonth America would 
lay herself down beside her sister continents and perish of 
starvation. The year's food only is grown in the year. Each 
year the world depends for subsistence upon something freshly 
given it which it cannot provide for itself. As the harvest ap- 
proaches the wolf is at the door. Nothing stands between us 
and starvation but the harvest covenant of the ever-faithful 
God — " seed-time and harvest shall not cease." 

Away, then, with our fancied independence ! Our breath 
is in our nostrils. Back again to old-time simple dependence 
on the covenant-keeping God — back to the arms of our 
Father ! We pray in the line of the harvest covenant when 
we say, " Give us this day our daily bread." 

Illustrated Christian Weekly. 



AN AUTUMN LESSON. 

A lesson of the autumn leaves comes strongly to him who 
looks beyond the fluttering and falling of the leaf. This has 



252 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

been taught us by many, but by none better than by Gannett 
in his " Year of Miracle." Out of the death of the leaf comes 
life to other leaves. Not the least portion of the force in it is 
lost. It is garnered in another state and in new conditions, 
and may well be permitted to speak to us of a newer and 
fuller life for man. " The dying of the leaf is but part of the 
success, though it seems to be the ending." The same teach- 
ing comes from the fruit. Fruit, which we eat for the flavor 
and the juice, has a higher ministry than that of appetite. We 
overlook the seeds which hug together at the core. Yet the 
flesh of the fruit is of little account with that we throw away. 
There is no future in the pulp for the plant. Its future is shut 
up in the discarded seed. The prophecy, the mystery of con- 
tinued life is there. The energy of the plant has gone into its 
growth and perfecting. Strenuously, through night and day, 
the plant has obeyed the design of God in it. Through storm 
and sunshine it has kept its individuality. It has not been 
changed into something else. The best conditions may have 
been withdrawn, but it has held on to its essential nature. It 
has responded instantly to good influences, putting on growth 
as nature became more kindly. 

New York Christian Advocate. 



SOUL-SATISFYING BREAD. 

FROM A SERMON BY REV. C. H. SPURGEON. 

And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life : he that cometh to 
me shall never hunger ; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. — 
John vi. 35. 

Our Saviour uses very simple figures. Think of his calling 
himself bread ! How condescending, that the commonest 
article upon the table should be the fullest type of Christ ! 
Think of his calling our faith an eating and a drinking of him- 
self ! Nothing could be more instructive ; at the same time 



HARVEST-HOME SERVICE. 253 

nothing could better set forth his gentleness and humility of 
spirit, that he does not object to speak thus of our receiving 
him. God be thanked for the simplicity of the gospel! 
Again, our Saviour has taken metaphors of a very common 
character, so that if our hearts are but right we cannot go 
anywhere but we are reminded of him. We cannot sit down 
to our tables but what the piece of bread speaks to us and 
says : " Poor soul, you are so needy that your bread must be 
the gift of heavenly charity. Jesus has come down from 
heaven to keep you from absolute starvation; he has come 
down to be bread and water to you." 

I. The Lord Jesus Christ is to be received by each one of us 
personally for himself. An unappropriated Christ is no Christ 
to any man. How is Jesus Christ to become a Saviour to me? 

First, by coming to him. This represents the first act of 
faith. It means that I hear what Christ is, learn what God 
says he is, and assent to it. 

Second, by believing on him ; that is, we trust in him, and 
show the reality of our belief by the simplicity of our reliance 
on the great sacrifice. 

Third, by eating and drinking him. We first put the food 
into our mouths ; even thus Christ Jesus is received into our 
trust and belief. Then we proceed to masticate it; even in 
this way the believing mind thinks of Jesus, contemplates him, 
meditates upon him, and discovers his preciousness. 

The two points about Jesus Christ which he says are to us 
meat and drink are hh flesh and his blood. We understand 
by his flesh, his humanity ; our soul feeds upon the literal, real, 
historical fact that " God was in Christ." The other point is 
his blood. This most clearly refers to his sufferings and to his 
vicarious death. 

II. Where Jesus is received he is supremely satisfying. 
Hungering is no sham. Christ satisfies the highest and 
deepest wants. 

Jesus Christ meets the hunger of conscience, of fear, of the 
heart, and the vast desires of our immortal nature. 



254 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

This perfect satisfying of our nature is to be found nowhere 
else but in Christ. 

All believers bear witness that Jesus Christ is satisfying bread 
to them. 

Those who have once eaten and drunk Christ never seek 
additional ground of trust beyond Christ. 



THE BREAD OF LIFE. 

REV. T. PUDDICOMBE. 

Of the seven " I am " sayings found in St. John's Gospel 
this is the first and the most homely. The words, like many 
others which our Lord used, contain a picture. 

1. Bread is for the hungry. The body is more than the 
mere tabernacle in which for a brief space the spirit dwells : it 
represents its unseen tenant, " the eyes of the mind " — you do 
not cease from seeing when the outward eye is closed. The 
mind requires food and exercise, or it will become stunted and 
powerless. So, too, the soul has its needs — its hunger — as is 
widely evidenced. 

II. Bread must suit the hungry. To this great want of the 
soul Christ responds. This is the very bread we want, for — 

i. It is given by Him who made us. 

2. It is a living person. Right beliefs, good deeds, true 
churches — none of these will feed the Spirit. The living 
Christ alone can nourish us — is our bread. 

III. Bread must be taken by the hungry. There is bread 
enough and to spare ; yet how many perish with hunger ! 

i. We must believe that Christ is what he professes to 
be — living bread. However hungry, we should not give 
a second look unless we believed it was wholesome bread 
which was set before us. 

2. We must take him as our bread ; make him our own by 
faith and by prayer. 



HARVEST-HOME SERVICE, 255 

3. There must be imparted to us the grace and virtue which 
are in Christ ; this, like the strength we gain from our food, 
is a divine mystery. Yet Christ does strengthen us ; we have 
proved it. 

HARVEST-HOME. 

Most gratefully we gather 

The fruitage of the year, 
And offer our thanksgiving 

With heart and voice sincere ! 
The sowing and the planting 

Have brought their blest reward ; 
Lo! would we place our offering 

Low at thy feet, O Lord — 
Our harvest-home! 

What wealth of treasure greets us, 

To bless the labor done! 
How hard the work and watching! 

How sweet the triumph won! 
What golden gleams of beauty 

The ripened fruitage yields ! 
With songs of joy and gladness 

We glean the fragrant fields — 
Sweet harvest-home ! 

O Lord, when thou dost gather 

Thy sheaves of golden wheat, 
And from the worthless masses 

Select the pure and meet ; 
When, all earth's harvests over, 

Thine own is just begun, 
Oh grant, our Heavenly Father, 

We hear thy call, " Well done ! " 
Thy harvest-home! 

Christian at Work, 



V$6 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION, 



AUTUMN DAYS. 

Autumn days are already foretold by the cool nights, the 
chirping crickets, and an occasional day of that rare stillness 
of the air that we get at no other season. Every month has 
its own attractions, even the stormy March being to the hardy 
constitution a bold challenge to vigorous exertion. Spring, 
with its new life of vegetation, is full of rare delight; and 
summer, for those who can get away now and then from the 
vile city streets, has its glorious attractions of outdoor life in 
the mountains and by the sea. But in September and October 
come the days of nature's perfect peace ; days so calm and cool, 
and yet so bright, that the very senses seem to rest. Have you 
ever closely observed the foliage of that season just before it 
begins to take on the autumnal tints ? There is something 
strangely interesting about it. Though there has been no ap- 
preciable change of color, the appearance is wholly different 
from that of midsummer. The leaves are not lifeless, but per- 
fectly mature, at their meridian ; no longer growing, but not 
yet beginning to decay. The year itself in those two months 
is in the same perfect maturity ; the fruits of the field and the 
orchard are ripe. The storms of the summer are passed; of 
the dark, leaden clouds of November there is as yet no sug- 
gestion, and from zenith to horizon the sky is serene. It is 
the time when, if ever, man should put away all needless care 
and worry, surrender himself to nature's quiet mood, and feel 
that life in and of itself is good. 

Springfield Republicafi. 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 



Historical. — Our Thanksgiving day looks for its origin to the 
times before the Christian era ; for among the laws given at Sinai 
(149 1 B.C.) we find the injunction: "Three times thou shalt 
keep a feast unto me in the year," etc. (Ex. xxiii. 14-16); and the 
third of these is called " the Feast of Ingathering, which is in the 
end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of 
the field." It began on the fifteenth day of the month Tisri, the 
seventh month — that is, fifteen days after the new moon in our 
October — and continued seven days, afterward adding the eighth 
day, which had anciently been the wine-press feast. It was called 
the Feast of Tabernacles, or booths, because during these eight 
days they dwelt in booths of green branches, in memory of their 
sojourn in the wilderness. It was the annual thanksgiving for the 
vintage and fruitage. The first and last days were Sabbaths, the 
eighth being kept as the great day of the feast. All the males 
were required to come to this feast, and God's special care was 
promised to their homes during their absence (Ex. xxxiv. 23, 24). 
Josephus (" Antiq.," viii., 4, 1) speaks of the eminence of this 
festival, and Plutarch calls it the greatest and most perfect of the 
Jewish feasts. There is no account of any invasion during this 
festival until after the coming of Christ, and his rejection by the 
Jewish people; but during its observance in A.D. 66, Certius, the 
Roman general, in the absence of the men, slew fifty inhabitants 
of Lydda. Every seventh year at this festival there was a public 
reading of the law (Neh. viii.), and the later Jews poured upon 
the sacrifices a libation of water and wine, filling the pitchers at 
Siloam, and singing: "With joy shall ye draw water out of the 
wells of salvation " (Isa. xii. 3) ; and at this feast our Saviour, on 
the last day of the feast," stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, 
let him come unto me, and drink" (John vii. 37). 

The Romans had an autumn festival not unlike in its original 
thought, held in honor of Ceres, the goddess of grain ; and as Ops 
(" plenty "), the wife of Saturn, was goddess of crops and the har- 
vest, the 19th and 20th of December, devoted to the Opalia, fol- 
lowed the Saturnalia, and had something of the same rejoicing in 
the bounties of nature, though disfigured commonly with heathen 
license. 

The Saxons had a " harvest-home," and other European peoples 

259 



260 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

had similar festivals; and Christian gratitude early led to many 
public thanksgiving services. One of the most noted of these was 
that celebrated in Leyden, Holland, October 3, 1575, on the first 
anniversary of the deliverance of that city from the besieging Span- 
iards. 

This Leyden thanksgiving was yet fresh in mind when the Pil- 
grim fathers sojourned there in 1608-20, and probably influenced 
the customs which they established in New England. The writer 
of our chapter on Harvest-home (q.v.) gives the story of the first 
festival of rejoicing after the harvest in Plymouth Colony, which 
he distinguishes from the days of religious thanksgiving appointed 
later. There is indeed no record of formal religious thanksgiving 
in 162 1, or of any observance the following year. There was a 
special thanksgiving observed in July, 1623, originally appointed 
as a day of prayer and fasting on account of prolonged drought 
and fear of the entire loss of the harvest. After the people had 
assembled to pray, rain fell in moderate but abundant showers, 
and the day of fasting was turned into rejoicing and thanksgiving. 
The records of Charlestown show a similar change of fasting into 
thanksgiving, February 23, 163 1, on account of the arrival of a 
ship with food-supplies; and in 1630 a special Thanksgiving day 
was appointed for the arrival of Governor Winthrop, of the Massa- 
chusetts Bay Colony, with a reinforcement of eight hundred colo- 
nists ; and Governor Winthrop appointed a day of thanksgiving, 
in June, 1632, because of favorable action of the British Privy 
Council toward the colonists, and invited the governor of Plymouth 
Colony to join him. 

The regular annual appointment seems to have been a thing of 
gradual growth. There is record of official appointment of days 
.of thanksgiving in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1632, 1634, 
1637, 1638, and 1639, more than one day being appointed in some 
years; and in Plymouth Colony in 165 1, 1668, and 1680, the form 
of the latter proclamation indicating that the day had then become 
an annual observance. Thanksgivings were at first for various 
special blessings — especially for the arrival of ships with provisions 
and new colonists — and were held at different seasons; but later 
they were in the late autumn or early winter, and in recognition of 
the harvests and fruits of the year. Similar days were appointed 
by the governors of the New Netherlands in 1644, 1645, 1653, and 
1664, and by the English governors of New York in 1755 and 1770. 

During the Revolution a day of thanksgiving was annually rec- 
ommended by Congress, and there was a general thanksgiving for 
peace in 1784. In 1789 President Washington, by request of Con- 
gress, recommended a day of thanksgiving for the adoption of the 
national Constitution. A second proclamation was issued by Wash- 
ington in 1795 because of the suppression of the "Whisky Insur- 
rection " in western Pennsylvania. At the request of Congress, 
Madison, i£ April, 18 15, recommended a day of thanksgiving for 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 261 

the restoration of peace with England. The official recommen- 
dation of the day, however, was mainly confined to New England, 
where annual proclamations were issued by the governors. The 
several religious bodies recommended days of thanksgiving, and 
various local customs prevailed in different parts of the country ; 
but the day was not regularly recommended by the governor of 
New York until 18 17, and its adoption by the Southern States was 
much later. In 1855 Governor Johnson, of Virginia, proclaimed a 
day of thanksgiving; but two years later Governor Wise, when re- 
quested to do the same, declined because unauthorized to interfere 
in religious matters. After Madison's Thanksgiving Proclamation 
in 18 1 5 for peace, closing the War of 18 12, Lincoln was the first 
President to proclaim a day of thanksgiving, when in 1862 he is- 
sued a proclamation recommending special thanksgiving for the 
victories of the year. In 1863 and 1864 proclamations of a national 
Thanksgiving day were issued. From that time on, proclamations 
have been issued annually by the several Presidents, as well as gov- 
ernors of the States and mayors of the principal cities ; and custom 
has at length fixed the time for the last Thursday in November. 



THE FIRST THANKSGIVING FOR THE NEW 
WORLD. 

That was a memorable thanksgiving when, in the early 
spring of 1493, Columbus returned from his first voyage of 
discover)'- to Palos, and hastened to meet the Spanish sover- 
eigns at Barcelona. Columbus was a man of faith. " God 
made me the messenger of the new heavens and the new 
earth," he said in his old age, "and told me where to find 
them." It was his patriarchal faith that inspired him to weigh 
the earth and to travel the unknown seas. 

Palos throbbed with excitement as the banner of the cross 
and crowns of Columbus rose above the wave and streamed 
into the harbor. The bells rang. On landing, Columbus and 
his crew went to the principal church, accompanied by the 
whole population, and offered up solemn thanksgivings for the 
success of the expedition. Columbus hastened to Barcelona 
to meet the court. His journey w r as a triumphal march. 

It was the middle of April, the month of nightingales and 



262 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

flowers. Columbus entered the city amid music, bells, and 
shouts of triumph. Ferdinand and Isabella, seated under a 
superb canopy, received him as a viceroy rather than as an 
admiral, and requested him to relate to them the history of his 
voyage. He did so, surrounded by the Indians whom he had 
brought with him, with their gay plumes and offerings of tropic 
birds and fruits. 

As he ended his wonderful narrative there arose a burst of 
music, and bore away to heaven the thoughts of the sovereigns 
and nobles and people, already thrilled and melted by the most 
marvelous tale ever told of human achievement. It was the 
chapel choir of Isabella. 

" We praise thee, O God ! We acknowledge thee to be the 
Lord. All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting." 

The majestic Latin hymn swept on until it reached the sub- 
lime words : " Holy, holy, Lord God of hosts ; heaven and 
earth are full of the majesty of thy glory." 

The great audience was filled with ecstatic devotion. It 
was perhaps the most happy moment of Columbus's life — the 
first thanksgiving for the New World. 

Youth's Companion. 



THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL THANKSGIVING 
PROCLAMATION. 

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

A Proclamation. 

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the 
Providence of Almighty God, to obey his Will, to be grateful 
for his Benefits, and humbly to implore his Protection and 
Favour : And whereas both houses of Congress have, by their 
joint Committee, requested me " To recommend to the People 
of the UNITED STATES, a Day of PUBLIC THANKS- 
GIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging 



THA NKSGI VI NG SER I VCE. 263 

with grateful Hearts the many Signal Favours of Almighty 
God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to 
establish a Form of Government for their Safety and Happi- 
ness." 

Now,THEREFORE, I do recommend and assignTHURS- 
DAY the Twenty-Sixth Day of November next, to be devoted 
by the People of these States, to the Service of that great and 
glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good 
that was, that is, or that will be : That we may then all unite 
in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks for his 
kind Care and Protection of the People of this Country pre- 
vious to their becoming a Nation ; — for the signal and manifold 
Mercies, and the favourable Interpositions of his Providence in 
the Course & Conclusion of the late War; — for the great De- 
gree of Tranquility, Union, and Plenty, which we have since 
enjoyed ; — for the peaceable and rational Manner in which we 
have been enabled to establish Constitutions of Government 
for our Safety and Happiness, and particularly the national 
one now lately instituted ; — for the civil and religious Liberty 
with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquir- 
ing and diffusing useful knowledge ; — and in general, for all 
the great and various Favours which he hath been pleased to 
confer upon us. 

AND ALSO, that we may then unite in most humbly offer- 
ing our Prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler 
of Nations, and beseech him to pardon our National and other 
Transgressions ; — to enable us all, whether in public or private 
Stations, to perform our several and relative Duties properly 
and punctually ; — to render our national Government a Bless- 
ing to all the people, by constantly being a government of wise, 
just and Constitutional Laws, directly and faithfully obeyed ; — 
to protect and guide all Sovereigns and nations, (especially 
such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with 
good Government, Peace and Concord ; — to promote the 
Knowledge and Practice of true Religion and Virtue, and the 
increase of Science among them and us; — and generally to 



264 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION*. 

grant unto all Mankind such a Degree of temporal Prosperity 
as he alone knows to be best. 

Given under my Hand, at the City of New York, the third 
Day of October, in the Year of our Lord One Thousand, 
Seven Hundred and eighty nine. 

G. Washington. 



THE HOME-GATHERING. 

WILLIAM ADAMS, D.D. 
For there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family. — 1 Sam. xx. 6. 

There existed in the family of Jesse a time-honored custom 
of observing a yearly festival, when all the children met in their 
father's house. Though mention is not made of the fact, we 
are led to infer that at this time Jesse, the father, was dead ; 
for it is recorded of him, in a previous chapter, that he went 
among men for an old man in the days of Saul; and subse- 
quently, when Saul saw that David's place was empty, and 
passionately demanded the reason of his absence, Jonathan 
answered, " David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Beth- 
lehem : and he said, Let me go, I pray thee ; for our family 
hath a sacrifice in the city ; and my brother [he saith not his 
father], he hath commanded me to be there : and now, if I have 
found favor in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and 
see my brethren." 

Though his father and mother were in the grave, yet so long 
established was this usage of an annual gathering that the 
scattered children were summoned by the eldest son to meet 
at the accustomed time, in the old cottage in which they were 
born, to celebrate their domestic festival. 

So it has occurred that the very season of the year which 
has invariably been consecrated to this observance has its ap- 
propriate influences to deepen the flow of domestic delights. 
When the earth is decked in its embroidered robes of green. 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 265 

and gold, when the trees are decorated with blossoms or richer 
fruits, when the birds are blithesome and the air is all balmy 
and serene, then are we attracted abroad. But when the birds 
have fled to a warmer clime, and the frost has locked up the 
streams, and the trees are bare of their foliage, and the har- 
vests are garnered, and the fields are shrouded with the snows 
of winter, then the affections come home for food and shelter ; 
and from the nakedness and cold of the world without we seek 
a covert at our own altars, and find our delights in the warm 
sympathies of domestic life. 

Winter ! ruler of the inverted year, 

1 love thee, all unlovely as thou seem'st, 
And dreaded as thou art. 

I crown thee king of intimate delights, 
Fireside enjoyments, home-born happiness, 
And all other comforts that the lowly roof 
Of undisturbed retirement ever knew. 

In quiet times we drop upon a quiet theme — home and its 
many blessings — as the occasion of devout thanksgivings to 
Almighty God. Like the light and air of heaven are these 
domestic influences ; so accustomed are we to their daily pres- 
ence that we pause not to pronounce upon their vital neces- 
sity. " Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the 
eyes to behold the sun;" but so constant and invariable are 
those cheering influences of day that most men would first 
be reminded of their value by the consternation which would 
follow their total withdrawal. Born amid the affections of a 
Christian home, nurtured under its gentle dews and blessings, 
we go out and come in, lie down and rise up, but seldom re- 
counting in distinct reflection our unspeakable obligations for 
such a grateful retreat. We say a Christian home ; for it is 
Christianity alone which enriches home, with its virtues and 
endearments. Home is something more than a house in which 
to live, a place in which to be lodged and sheltered and fed ; 
it is the sanctuary and seminary of the affections; and no- 



266 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

where on earth can you find a place which deserves the name, 
or the praise we give it, save where the religion of Christ, by- 
its direct or indirect influence, has nurtured into life those 
affections which give to home all its substantial value. The 
heathen are " without natural affection " ; and surely it is no 
small occasion for thanksgiving to God that the lot of life has 
fallen to us in a place wherein those kindly instincts and feel- 
ings of our nature, to which paganism does rude violence, are 
protected, fostered, and strengthened by the gentle spirit of a 
pure religion. 

There is a great variety in our household affections. Each 
has its separate beauty, all harmonizing in simple unity, as the 
primary colors, each distinct, blend together to form the brilliant 
light of heaven. We must apply the prism to the heart, and 
discover of what curious sympathies it is compounded. 

The love of a father for a child — what singular combinations 
enter into its composition ! Analyze, if you can, his great 
emotions when for the first time he feels his first-born's breath. 
Gladness he had felt before ; but new joys play through his 
soul like a sparkling sea, and " the concealed treasures of the 
deep " are not so great as the comforts that unfold themselves 
in this new affection. Scarcely is the first emotion of gratitude 
expressed when sadness gives a tinge to his love ; for he is full 
of awe, beholding how he stands related to an immortal spirit. 
Reverence is not a quality of filial love only ; it belongs also 
to the descending affection of a parent for a child, who, strong 
man that he is, trembles at the thought that the shadow of his 
own earthly self must pass over the pure mirror of that un- 
clouded mind. Pity, too, is an ingredient in the novel com- 
pound, for there is an uneasy sense that the being so weak and 
dependent will be exposed to a thousand ills from which it can 
be protected by no human arm. Pride, too, shall I call it ? 
Yes, if we can conceive of a permitted feeling under this name 
which has no alliance with the meanness of sin. Name it 
rather the high pleasure which a parent feels either in anticipat- 
ing or beholding the success or goodness of a son on whom 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 267 

concentrate all his hopes; the reduplication of himself, for 
whom and in whom he lives. All this enters as another ele- 
ment into that strong love which imparts an impulse and a 
glow to his whole life. 

In the love of a father for his children there is some measure 
of reserve, as if the full expression of it all were allied to weak- 
ness. But the love of a mother for her offspring knows no 
such exceptions. First of all, ,she gives her own life in proffered 
exchange for the life of her child, going within the precincts 
of death to purchase the priceless treasure, and ever after hold- 
ing her own life as nothing in comparison with the welfare of 
her offspring. The full and vehement expression of her love, 
instead of being counted in her a weakness, is her very life and 
glory. He cannot destroy the love that that fond heart con- 
tained. The perfume of partial affection will forever linger 
among the scattered pieces of the shattered vessel. What the 
world casts out as worthless she will pity and love to the last, 
forgiving when the world only censures ; and when the grave 
hides from the sight the miserable victim of vice, she shall sigh 
and weep, refusing to be comforted, because he is not. Oh, 
what were this world to us in the absence of her love who has 
been more than all the world to us — so gentle, so hopeful, so 
constant, so changeless ! 

Then the love of children for their parents has its own sepa- 
rate qualities. As parents are not dependent upon their infant 
children, but children upon their parents, the economy of na- 
ture makes it necessary that the love which descends to the 
helpless should be stronger than the love which ascends to the 
helper. Filial affection, beyond the simple impulses of instinct, 
is of slow growth. Weeds of waywardness and heedlessness 
and wilfulness hide its early beauty. Never can we appreciate 
our parents' love for us till we become parents ourselves; and 
the longer we live the more the feeling grows upon us, as if 
we wished to atone for our youthful impatience by a more 
just and grateful conduct. But, even in childhood, what a 
simple grace do we see in filial love — the compound of grati- 



268 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

tude, reverence, and trust ! The confidence of others may be 
won by slow degrees, but an affectionate child knows that its 
own parents are to be trusted with all the heart. They, as it 
were, put in the place of God, are the first objects of love, the 
first of faith. The image of two faces beaming with benignity 
grows into the very texture of the soul ; and when other and 
more superficial impressions fade, the first picture becomes 
more distinct, so that we think and speak the more of our 
parents' virtues, rehearsing them to our children and children's 
children as our highest boast and glory. 

The relation between the brothers and sisters has also its own 
distinct characteristics. Independent existences, yet similarly 
related to the same stock ; nourished at the same fountain of 
life, sleeping on the same pillow, fed at the same table, their 
sympathies and affections become all intertwined and insepa- 
rable, like the branches of the vine on the side of their dwell- 
ing ; they never can be thought of without calling to mind the 
common home and parentage in which they originated ; and 
this becomes the guaranty of continued warmth and vigor. 
As there is a quality of manliness in the love of a brother, so 
there is a gentle beauty in the affection of a sister. Cast in a 
finer mold, with a nicer sense of the proper and the delicate, 
her influence begins over her associates of the rougher sex 
even in the nursery. Entering into a complete companionship 
of feeling, she speaks with such a soothing voice, and moves 
about with such a quiet grace, that she insensibly assimilates 
to herself the future man, who is now her constant associate ; 
and blessed is he who has been favored by such gentle sym- 
pathies. 

So much has been written in sonnets and romances of the 
love between husband and wife that many are tempted to think 
it only a poetical fiction. It is indeed a mystery that two beings 
born and bred in ignorance of each other's existence should 
in after years attain to such absolute confidence, so completely 
harmonizing into one life as to be the symbol which the Son of 
God has chosen to shadow forth his own love for his espoused 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 269 

church. Infidelity may scoff at the tie, and vice stand abashed 
before its sanctity ; but every heart that is right and true will 
be thankful to God for the relic of Paradise which, surviving 
the general wreck and ruin of the apostasy, has secured to 
us the sacred companionship which, softening the asperities 
of life, helps our better purposes by means of our domestic 
pleasures. 

There is a special beauty in the relation between grand- 
parents and their descendants. The young of animals, so 
soon as they cease to be dependent on their dam, forgetful of 
all affection, mix and mingle with the common herd. But the 
love of a human parent for his offspring travels down and 
spreads out with a peculiar tenderness on children's children. 
Those far advanced in years would not fear that they have 
survived their usefulness did they reflect how much of good 
they accomplish by being the object of respect, reverence, love, 
to the young. 

These are the affections which combine to form the glow- 
ing lights of home. And shall we not be thankful to God for 
these transcendent delights of domestic life — for the happiness 
of parents and children, husbands and wives, brethren and 
sisters ? This is a source of pleasure which belongs to the 
humble poor as well as to the more elevated in fortune, and 
oftentimes in larger measure. Adversity blows the larger 
affections to a brighter flame. This serene satisfaction cheers 
the cottage of the poor, while it ornaments the mansion of the 
rich. Of many a humble home the sons are '* as plants grown 
up in their youth"; the daughters are "as corner-stones, pol- 
ished after the similitude of a palace" "within whose walls 
there is no complaining." Happy, yea, "happy is that people 
that is in such a case." 

To the beneficent influence of Christianity are we indebted 
not only for the refinement and enlivenment of our domestic 
affections, but also for the security of the abode in which they 
grow. Home is neither an open bower nor a barricaded castle, 
yet it is our own vine and fig-tree, beneath which we repose, 



270 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

with none to molest us or make us afraid. Here is nurtured 
the sense of independence in the individual man ; each native 
peculiarity of character has here its space and quiet in which 
to grow. The tender child is spared the shock of care and 
apprehension ; his parents seem to his eye to have the power 
of protecting him from harm ; and sheltered from the anxiety 
and danger in that secure retreat in which God hath planted 
him, he quietly grows up into life. Though the illusions of 
childhood pass away, yet there is much of this very feeling 
which we retain with us to the last. We go forth to toil and 
come home for rest ; we could not survive the steady pressure 
of cares, nor safely give up ourselves to the agitating passions 
of life ; so there has been provided for us a still and retired 
abode, in which we may throw off the weight, and by the play 
of gentler affections renew our jaded strength. Here the ach- 
ing head is soothed, the broken heart bound up ; and here it 
is, when life wanes, that we retire to die. The heathen parent 
is buried alive by his own children, to rid themselves of the 
care of decrepit age ; but God has given us a home not only 
to live in, but where we may die. Here, surrounded by weep- 
ing children, the beloved parent breathes his last. " May you 
die among your kindred " is the common form of Oriental 
salutation. 

Not the least among the high praises of a Christian home is 
that it is the place for forming character. We call ourselves 
the instructors of our children ; with less pretensions, they are 
our instructors also. The nursery is the best school for men 
as well as for infants. Jesus Christ took a little child, and placed 
him in the midst of his disciples, and said unto them : " Except 
ye . . . become as little children, ye cannot see the king- 
dom of God." Would you learn simplicity of character, look 
in the "open face "of your child. From the same sunny look 
read the beauty of humility. Go in the stillness of night into 
the chamber where your infant children lie in softest slumber, 
and there call to mind the innumerable forms of evil which 
beset them — the sickness from which no care of yours can pro- 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 271 

tect them ; the temptations from which no vigilance of yours 
can save them — then listen to the voice which comes from your 
heart, as well as from heaven : " Commit thyself and thine 
helpless offspring unto the Watchman who never sleeps." 

" A family of children walking amid a thousand dangers, 
and often escaping, is one of the most striking proofs of a 
particular Providence that ever met my mind. To talk about 
the general laws of nature, immutable and unbendable to the 
interposing will of Deity — away with such metaphysical trash! 
It is very unfortunate that some of the great geniuses who have 
undertaken to enlighten the world by their infidelity were not 
married men. It would have done more to help them to 
digest the venom of their spleen than all the long volumes of 
rejoinders which have been written by metaphysical theolo- 
gians. It is generally to be noticed that infidelity and misan- 
thropy have an affinity for each other, and are often combined 
in the same heart." 

A year rolls round, and it is fit that a family should meet 
together and recount their manifold blessings. Changes not a 
few may occur in a twelvemonth. Grateful acknowledgments 
should be made for God's protection and God's bounty. Are 
parents yet spared to bless you, they in the sear and yellow leaf 
of age and you in your maturity ? Count it a special favor 
that they are continued to you at the period of your life when 
you are both able and disposed to appreciate the blessing. 
Now the pleasure is yours of honoring the hoary head and 
ministering to those who lived only to minister to you. Fail 
not to be thankful to Him who keeps the sparrow's children 
and yours. 

It was a beautiful custom among the ancients to throw the 
gall of the nuptial sacrifices far behind the altar, as a sign and 
pledge that every bitterness should be excluded from the rela- 
tion which was then consummated. Approaching the house- 
hold altars with an oblation of united thanks for personal and 
family blessings, let every bitter thought be banished from the 
sweet and sunny charities of the domestic sacrifice. 



272 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

It may be that the day which to most is one of particular 
pleasure, to some is one of irresistible sadness; and the very 
words here written, instead of cheering, have only pierced 
their hearts with many a poignant pang. They remind them 
of happy scenes which have gone, never to be renewed. The 
only homestead whither they were wont to go has passed into 
the hands of strangers, and its former inmates are now in that 
narrow house where there are no greetings and no welcomings. 
"The delights of which you have spoken," say these, "once 
were yours, but yours they are no longer." Recall the word. 
Scenes like these never fade ; pleasure of this description can 
never die. What you have already felt and enjoyed can never 
be taken away from you. It is yours still, and will be yours 
forever. You have an invisible property in these remembered 
delights which death itself cannot steal from you. The form 
of your beloved parents may have moldered back to dust, but 
their memory and their love can never decay. You cannot rid 
yourself of their influence ; no wave of oblivion can wash out 
the fond recollection of all they were and all they did. You 
have treasures garnered up in the past which gold could not 
buy. The spiritual can never perish. It was the virtue, the 
affection of those remembered but now departed relatives alone 
which you loved ; but death never can touch these immortal 
qualities of their life. The mold may be broken up and thrown 
away, but the spiritual fabric which was cast therein never can 
be marred nor stolen; and the product of those scenes and 
relations lives in these grateful memories and kindly affections, 
which neither time nor bereavement can ever touch, and which 
even now are exerting their influence to make you better and 
happier. Count yourself, then, no more solitary ; for the dead 
still live ; their voices, their smiles, their example, their virtues, 
are still yours beyond the reach of vicissitude. 

Perhaps the shadow of a more recent bereavement is on you. 
Some seat at your table is vacant ; some bright and darling head, 
on which you were wont to put your hand with a blessing, is 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE, 273 

pillowed beneath the winter's snow. Surely you will be thank- 
ful that religion has taught us how many mercies are mingled 
with our bereavements. When night comes, the different 
members of a family go to their separate apartments for 
sleep ; the morning soon unites them, and waking or sleeping, 
they are one household still. So is your family separated for 
a season — a part are here, and a part are in the chambers of 
the tomb ; but the bond is not broken, and soon the morning 
will come, when you shall meet again, face to face. The 
greatest blessing which religion has conferred on a Christian 
home is in making the affections immortal. Christianity as- 
sures us that beyond the narrow path of death our present 
fellowships are to be perpetuated in endless harmony. We 
meet around the home hearth at the yearly sacrifice, and then 
plunge anew into life's dangers and cares ; but hereafter we 
shall meet in our Father's house in heaven, with welcomings 
and rejoicings that never shall cease. Who of us will not be 
thankful with such a prospect gilding his skies, and such a 
promise shining on his path ? 

We cannot close with anything more fitting than the lines of 
Charles Sprague on 

THE FAMILY MEETING. 

We are all here ! 
Father, mother, 
Sister, brother, 

All who hold each other dear; 
Each chair is filled, we're all at home. 
To-night let no cold stranger come ; 
It is not often thus around 
Our old familiar hearth we're found. 
Bless, then, the meeting and the spot; 
For once be every care forgot ; 
Let gentle peace assert her power, 
And kind affection rule the hour. 

We're all, all here ! 



274 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

We're not all here ! 

Some are away — the dead ones dear 
Who thronged with us this ancient hearth, 
And gave the hour of guiltless mirth. 
Death, with a stern, relentless hand, 
Looked in, and thinned our little band ; 
Some like a night-flash passed away, 
And some sank, lingering, day by day; 
The quiet graveyard — some lie there, 
And cruel ocean has its share. 

We're not all here I 

We are all here ! 

Even they — the dead — though dead, so dear; 
Fond memory, to her duty true, 
Brings back their faded forms to view. 
How lifelike through the mist of years 
Each well-remembered face appears ! 
We see them as in times long past ; 
From each to each kind looks are cast ; 
We hear their words, their smiles behold — 
They're round us as of old. 

We are all here ! 

We are all here ! 
Father, mother, 
Sister, brother, 

You that I love with love so dear. 
This may not long of us be said ; 
Soon must we join the gathered dead, 
And by the hearth we now sit round 
Some other circle will be found. 
Oh then, that wisdom may we know 
That yields a life of peace below ! 
So, in the world to follow this, 
May each repeat, in words of bliss, 

"We're all, all here!" 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 275 

MAN AND HIS THANKSGIVING. 

A SERMON BY PROFESSOR DAVID SWING, CHICAGO. 

In the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of 
my life. — Ps. xlii. 8. 

More than two hundr and fifty autumns have come since 
Thanksgiving day made its appearance on this continent. 
What events and what scenery are included in that thought ! 
To look forward and imagine an unfolding future delights all 
at some hour; but not less impressed is the heart that looks 
back. The mind may err in its picture of the future, but the 
past is so real that it can fill up the mind instantly, and carry 
the spirit away with it's joy or pain. We are all dreamers in- 
deed, but it is the reality that most affects us. The summers 
will come long centuries yet, but they cannot affect us like 
those that have already been here. We all bow most humbly 
to the facts. Facts are not stubborn things, only in a wide 
sense ; but they are immovable in their sadness or greatness or 
beauty. When one speaks of two thousand years hence the 
mind can see or feel little ; but when one speaks of two thou- 
sand years ago the streets of the Roman empire become full 
of people, and the hundred millions of Romans are moving to 
and fro under the rule of a Caesar. All is as real as the events 
of to-day or yesterday. 

In November, 162 1, Governor Bradford sent out four men 
to gather game, that the whole colony might have a great 
dinner and rejoice together over the success of a year. 

The picture of four men hunting for game to make a big 
dinner for a young nation is so small that the common mind 
can take it all in at a glance. It is not often that one is per- 
mitted to see a whole republic or empire assembled at one 
point and waiting for four citizens to come back from a morn- 
ing hunt to bring the nation its dinner. That the huntsmen 
came back with a great load of birds and quadrupeds may be 



276 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

assumed, for in the same year there was published a journal 
which said the woods were full of deer and the waters with 
geese and ducks. 

So gratifying was that dinner that when the next autumn 
came the governor ordered a repetition of the feast, and he 
arose to this language : " Solemnize a day of thanksgiving unto 
the Lord." 

Active at these repasts was John Bradford ; busy also Wil- 
liam Bradford, and very energetic and happy was little Miles 
Standish at the first dinner ; but his young wife died before the 
second autumn had sprinkled its tints upon the hills. Very 
able to appreciate such a holiday was John Alden, for he was 
the youngest of the Pilgrims, having been only twenty years 
in the world. 

This group our sun carried forward with a wonderful suc- 
cession of mornings and evenings, winters and summers ; start- 
ing and ripening the corn ; making the wild rice grow for the 
ducks, and the young leaves and grass return for the deer. 
Knee-deep in water went the men who were attempting to 
shoot the aquatic birds. So rich was the soil that when some 
wild Indians shot arrows after the hunters it was difficult for 
the whites to find the curious arrows afterward, so thickly was 
the ground covered with autumn leaves. 

Thus the autumnal splendor repeated itself ; but the leaves 
did not forget to remind the Pilgrims of man's mortality, for 
on the second Thanksgiving morning they lay thick upon the 
grave of Edward Winslow's bride, and on the grave of Rose 
Standish. No Thanksgiving day came without bringing to 
many a house a flood of tears. 

Not the least reason for thanksgiving is the everlasting 
kindness of the sun. Skeptical persons are not sure about the 
steadfastness of the saints, the Methodists thinking that a good 
man may fall from grace ; but all men agree in the persever- 
ance of the sun. It created hanging gardens for the kings of 
Babylon ; it made the Nile valley a paradise for the Pharaohs ; 
it made great fields of blossoms for the bees of Virgil ; it made 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 277 

lilies and vines for Christ; it swept along through countless 
centuries, and at last came to that Thanksgiving in Novem- 
ber, and has carried it forward for over two and a half centu- 
ries. The Miles Standishes and the Rose Standishes die, but 
the sun never dies ; it gathers in its white arms the children, 
and runs forward with them into another generation. I doubt 
not that many will thank God for railways and ships, tele- 
graphs and libraries; but, after all, nothing so declares the 
Creator's kindness as that sun which creates all the Mays and 
Novembers. The inventions of the age lead the heart to man ; 
but the long march of these autumns leads us to God. This 
day sprang up out of the richness of the fields in the summer- 
time, and it will lose its religious quality if we detach it from 
this magnificence of nature. 

In those two centuries and a half in which our people have 
been giving thanks only the last little group of years has been 
marked by the advent of great discoveries and inventions. 
In the first two centuries our ancestors came to their song of 
thanksgiving in the name of their own life on the planet. Those 
assemblages in 1621 and 1622 tell us that it is a wonderful thing 
to be a living and educated being, whether life is passing along 
among the inventions and arts, or in the New England sim- 
plicity of the seventeenth century. Man's greatness is within. 
When he is made strong by education he is great, whether he 
looks out upon a railway or upon only a field of wheat. With 
what joy did Miles and Rose Standish take their steps upon 
those autumn leaves long ago ! Life is in itself so great and 
mysterious that it cannot be affected much by the accidents 
of science and art. When man is educated, a tree, a bird, a 
blossom, a note of music, can fill the soul to the brim. Singu- 
lar enigma that the greater the mind the more easily is it filled 
to the overflowing ; because under its touch the simplest thing 
expands into a measureless mystery. 

It was the inner worth of the men of 162 1 that made the 
Thanksgiving day come at all, and come so rightly. That group 
possessed a defective religion, but the substance of religion was 



278 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

with them. The doctrines of election and hell and of God's 
especial care of their sect did not prevent the virtues of honor 
and friendship from growing in their hearts. Their education 
was fair, but not large ; but its substance, too, was in their 
minds ; and while a few men were graduates of Oxford and 
Cambridge, all could estimate life and could write good letters 
back to old England. 

In a half-dozen years after that Plymouth Colony was 
founded, that little band of citizens had established com- 
pulsory education, and the children of the four men who were 
sent out to shoot deer for a big dinner had to study Plato in 
the Greek and Tacitus in the Latin. The sonorous and sweet 
lines of Homer and Virgil lay closely alongside the yells of the 
Indians. Imperfection was present in all those hours ; but yet 
those far-off hours assure us that now, as then, thanks must rise 
out of the heart that appreciates its life not only in the United 
States, but under the sublimer scepter of God. 

It is not a good spiritual policy for us who are now living 
to thank God only for the material progress of our times ; be- 
cause these material things will soon give place to something 
better, and then our prayers and hymns will seem lost, and we 
who lived for them will seem to perish with them ; but if we 
bless God for the sun that has held us in its arms, and for the 
autumns that have painted the fields and have set in mezzotint 
the sky and sea and land, then have we a worship which the 
future cannot take away from our souls or memories. To noth- 
ing better can far-off times ever come. As in this worship of 
life we can all run back and bend with Bradford and Standish 
in their prayers, and sit down with them at their feast, thus can 
the far future come back to us, and see in our religious acts 
and sentiments something good enough for their more golden 
age. Man's world changes, but human life may easily find an 
unchanging greatness. As the goodness of old Governor 
Bradford shines out through his irregular verses and distorted 
syntax, thus the merit of our race often is mingled with little 
defects, but still it may possess a beautiful and everlasting 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 279 

part. As the game and fruits on the table in 162 1 would be 
good for our table to-day, so their happiness would be all we 
could wish this week in our reunions at home, because man's 
happiness comes chiefly from the fact of a heart at peace with 
the universe. Man must, for the most part, give thanks for 
his life rather than for the field through which it flows. 

We all ought to know whence the song of thanksgiving 
springs. It will not come this week from the fact that you 
live in this city, or by a great and beautiful lake; for the 
millions who live elsewhere will be just as thankful, and many 
of you had happy days before your homes were here. When 
one looks around in a city, and sees its forms of splendor, and 
joins in its many entertainments for the mind, one must not 
forget the fact that the heart came upon great hours when it 
had only the wild trees for its companions and the fields for 
its galleries of art. The magnificent churches, new in style and 
rich in organ and hymn, must not deceive us ; for a poetess of 
the past says : 

How beautiful they stand, 

The oldest altars of our native land ! 

Amid the pasture-fields and dark-green woods, 

Amid the mountain's cloudy solitudes, 

By rivers broad that rush into the sea, 

By little brooks that with a lisping sound, 

Like playful children, run by copse and lea, 

Each in its little plot of holy ground, 

How beautiful they stand, 

The ancient churches of our native land ! 

It is not the landscape that makes the painter. The passing 
soul sees the landscape — sees it with the eye of genii — and soon 
the canvas tells the tale — the twofold tale — that a cultured mind 
has passed by the valley or the mountain. Therefore comes 
the expression, " The poet is born, not made." His poetry is 
not put on him like gilt upon a stick ; it comes out of him like 
a lily-blossom out of its folded leaves. Thus we are all born, 
not to be subsequently covered with gilt on the outside, but 



280 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

born full of the joy of life ; and that joy expresses itself 
in the spring, when leaves open, and in November, when they 
fall. 

At first it seems incredible that David, or some other psalm- 
ist, should have been so full of delight with his world as to de- 
clare that all night a song should be with him, and that his 
prayer should rise also in the night to the God of his life. At 
first thought it would seem that he might have complained at 
living so soon in history. It seems wonderful that such thank- 
fulness was possible to a man who had never seen the inven- 
tions of our century, and who had never spent a day in our 
Republic. But upon deeper reflection it now comes to mem- 
ory that a great river of happiness ran through classic Athens 
and classic Rome ; that Pindar saw smiles on the ocean ; that 
the children in the Bible played games ; and that the excava- 
tions of Pompeii revealed the toys of childhood. We are told 
of a Greek who died of joy on hearing of the success of his 
son. Thus joy has always followed the sun around the globe. 
We must conclude, therefore, that the great hymn of thanks- 
giving is not of local origin ; it was not written in our prairies 
alone, but it was composed by the human soul when it first sat 
down and pondered over the mysterious visit it was making 
to this realm ; and it has been sung ever since by each person 
who has reached the power of mind that is capable of a deep 
or sweet or sad thought. 

This slumbering hymn or prayer simply broke out in 162 1. 
There must have been in that Mayflower group some heart of 
man or woman which had no concealment. It sang aloud the 
thanksgiving song of the world, and prayed its prayer to the 
God of man's being. This one soul said, " Let us have a great 
autumn feast soon." When New England possessed only 
about a hundred people it was easy for a feast to become 
national. What a change since then ! For now the feast is 
proclaimed to sixty-five millions of citizens, and eight hundred 
railroads are busy carrying the food for the banquet — roads 
from California with fruits, roads from the South with the pro- 



THANKSGIVIXG SERVICE. 281 

ducts of a long summer-time, trains from the Northwest with 
bread, trains from the Atlantic coast with food from the tropics 
and from the sea. What a change since the four men went 
hunting ! And yet the then and the now blend in one song, 
and that to the God of our life. 

Let us hasten to the thought that the life for which the soul 
thanks Heaven cannot be a mere existence. It must be an 
existence in action. If man thanked God for only existence, 
an animal might do as much. The great and impressive thing 
is man grasping his world. The poet from whom our text 
comes was not simply existing. He was singing a song in the 
night. He was impressed by the wonderful scene. Living 
water means running water ; so man's life implies man's acting 
in his world. Man detached from the works of society, from 
its reforms, its arts, its ends and aims, is a branch broken from 
the vine. The Pilgrims who made that first feast were living 
a life all intertwined with a coming nation. Education, re- 
ligion, government, agriculture, were some of the gold chains 
that bound them to this planet. The life of each woman led 
up to a great purpose. Each sang a song in the night to the 
God of her being because she was so beautifully interwoven 
into civilization. Her soul was a part of a nation. 

It is the very reasonable theory of a new astronomer that 
the sun does not pour his light and heat into all space as an 
overturned bucket empties its water upon the ground, but that 
each planet sends off toward the sun its own essence, a col- 
umn having the diameter of the earth or Mars or Saturn, 
and that the sun's light and heat run in these columns as the 
lightning follows a wire from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This 
at least illustrates the relation of man to his universe. The 
universe does not recklessly overturn its urns of good and 
flood all space alike, but it notes the hearts from which some 
spiritual essence rises up toward its immense self, and down 
these personal columns the blessings of infinity and eternity 
flow into the waiting spirit. The urns of light are overturned 
into the minds that live and rise to them. 



282 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

The situation is at least such that Thanksgiving day cannot 
come to the rich alone, nor to the learned or the famous alone, 
but it comes to each life well lived. It cannot keep away 
from the ignorant or the poor if they are touching duty and 
virtue with one hand, or are touching the trailing garments of 
goodness and piety, because such persons have a soul that 
cannot be affected by poverty or riches. 

The Thanksgiving need bring us no special boasting that 
we live to-day, because such boasting reproaches that yester- 
day in which Christ lived, and in which the earth is all marked 
with the footsteps of the mighty. The day need bring no 
laments that we are poor or full of toil, for the words "poor" 
and " rich " play only a small part in the vast history of true 
happiness ; no laments that we cannot live a hundred years 
from the present, for each century has the same God and the 
same personal questions, just as it has the same sunshine. The 
one task and joy of each mortal, in whatever age or land, is to 
weave a song out of his own days and years, and, in any time 
or condition, to breathe a prayer in the name of his soul. The 
long and rich procession of humanity seen as filing over the 
great plains of the past — a procession headed by such beings 
as Jesus Christ — carrying banners of love, and chanting, as 
they march, the hymns of immortality, gives assurance that it 
is an amazing event for us to be carried through these many 
centuries in the great chariot of existence, and reason enough 
for our hymn and prayer of thanksgiving to the God of our 
life. Chicago Tribune. 



THANKSGIVING THOUGHTS. 

J. R. MILLER, D.D., PHILADELPHIA. 

Perhaps there is a danger that God is being left out of our 
Thanksgiving day. Perhaps we are making it a holiday rather 
than a day for sincere and hearty giving of thanks to Almighty 
God for his mercies and favors. There is like danger in the 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 283 

observance of Christmas. It means nothing if it does not turn 
our thoughts to the wonderful gift of God's love, in the birth 
of the Child of Bethlehem. But in the annual observance of 
the day the thought of Christ is not even dimly present in the 
minds of thousands who enter with great zest into Christmas 
gaiety. It should be the aim of Christian people, in all their 
keeping of the day, whether in the sacred gladness of the 
home, in public services in church or Sunday-school, or in 
festivities of whatever kind, to have the true meaning of 
Christmas remembered, that the influence of the child Jesus 
may pervade all the thought of the day. 

So should it be with Thanksgiving day. To leave God out 
is to make the day an empty name, without meaning. -Thanks- 
giving is nothing if not a glad and reverent lifting of the heart 
to God in honor and praise for his goodness. As an annual 
festival it is meant to gather into one day the gratitude of a 
nation for the favors and mercies of a year. This does not 
imply that we can put all our thanksgiving for a year into one 
day. We may not be murmurers for three hundred and sixty- 
four days, and then atone for our ingratitude by praising and 
blessing God for one whole day. The normal Christian life is 
one whose thanksgiving fills every day of the year with song 
and gladness. 

Yet it is meet and proper that a nation should set apart an 
annual day for national giving of thanks. It is a public rec- 
ognition of God as the Author of all prosperity. It is the 
erection of a memorial to the honor of him who has led us 
through another year. The annual proclamations which call 
to the duty of thanksgiving are calculated to remind the people 
of their indebtedness to God, to stir in their minds and hearts 
emotions of gratitude and praise, and to call out thanks and 
sincere worship which otherwise might not find expression. 
But if the observance of the day be not marked by real re- 
membering of mercies and by real lifting of hearts to God in 
thanks, what blessing can possibly come with it ? 

It is not urged that it should be like a Sabbath in its sacred- 



284 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

ness, devoted wholly to religious worship. There certainly 
should be a public recognition of the day in the churches. 
The people should come together in their accustomed places 
of worship, and should there give expression to their sense of 
their dependence upon God and to their gratitude to him for 
the blessings and prosperities of the year, and should receive 
instruction fitting for the occasion. The remaining hours of 
the day may then be appropriately devoted to such home and 
other festivities as will give pleasure and will prove restful and 
inspiring ; but in none of them should the thought of thanks- 
giving be lost. 

Yet there is reason to fear that in many places the public 
religious service of Thanksgiving day is losing its hold upon 
the people. If the churches are opened for worship the num- 
ber of worshipers is too small. The day seems to be given up 
more and more to holiday festivities. Always Thanksgiving 
has been a home day — when the absent members of the house- 
hold have gathered back around the old hearthstone for a glad 
reunion. Nothing could be more beautiful or more sacred 
than this feature of the day. But in this too the meaning of 
the festival should be kept in mind, and the home gladness 
should be full of praise. A picture without sky wants some- 
thing, and a Thanksgiving without heaven's blue in it is only 
earthly, is unprofitable. 

There should be also an educational value in Thanksgiving. 
There is not enough praise in most lives — even in most 
Christian lives. We talk a great deal about the value of 
prayer. It is indeed the Christian's " vital breath." We ought 
to walk with God and to abide in Christ, living in the atmo- 
sphere of prayer. Thus it is that we draw down the very air 
of heaven into our souls. But there are in the Bible very 
many more words about praise than about prayer. The 
Psalms are full of exhortations to praise and thanksgiving. 
The New Testament exhorts us continually to joy and glad- 
ness, to rejoice always. But if we watch our own devotions 
we shall probably discover that while we bring a great many 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 285 

requests and burdens to God, and ask a great many favors of 
him, we put very little thanksgiving into our worship. 

There is a legend which tells of two angels — the Angel of 
Requests and the Angel of Thanksgiving — leaving heaven to 
gather the petitions of men to be carried up to God. Each 
had a great basket in his hand. The Angel of Requests soon 
had his basket so filled that he could scarcely carry it, while 
the basket of the Angel of Thanksgiving was almost empty. 
God hears a great many cries for help and pleadings for favors, 
but not so many glad voices of praise. Of ten lepers who 
were healed only one returned to give thanks. So it is with 
most of us : we eagerly flee to God when we need help, and 
call upon him for deliverance and for relief; but when the 
blessing we sought is given to us, how many of us return to 
God to thank him for the good things he has done for us ? 

There ought, therefore, to be on Thanksgiving day an up- 
lifting of all Christian hearts into a loftier spirit of gladness. 
Thanksgiving should become more an integral element in all 
our worship, in all our spiritual life. Anniversaries are sad 
days because they recall the losses and sorrows of the year. 
In many homes there is a vacant chair to-day. Voices that 
sang in the songs last Thanksgiving are missed, and faces that 
brightened the circle have vanished. Tears will choke many 
a hymn of praise. Yet, even in the sadness, thanksgiving 
should not be left out of the song. Indeed, the purest, sweet- 
est joy of earth is transformed sorrow. 

No thanksgiving is complete without its generous thought 
of those who are not so favored as we are. The truly grate- 
ful heart always thinks of giving blessing to some other. Says 
George MacDonald : " When God comes to man, man looks 
around for his neighbor." Our own Thanksgiving dinner will 
be sweeter if we have shared it with another household. An 
unshared meal on this glad day will not bring its best possible 
blessing. Ititerior. 



286 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 



THANKSGIVING: ITS MEMORIES AND HABITS. 

WILLIAM ADAMS, D.D. 

The beginning of this world's history was a song ; its end 
will be a doxology. The secret of all rational contentment is 
revealed in that inspired direction which ought to be written 
on every heart as a compendious rule of life : " Be careful for 
nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with 
thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And 
the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep 
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." 

Thanksgiving day has a history attached to it. Like the 
Latin word virtus ; it is a history which runs through the entire 
life of a people. We cannot afford to lose reverence for an- 
cestral memories. The bare mention of the words, the old 
Thanksgiving day — what a power has it to revive the pleasant- 
est reminiscences and recall the brightest scenes of other days 
in many hearts ! It transports them to the home of their 
childhood. It takes them at once into the presence of the 
father and mother who, it may be, for many years have been 
sleeping in the grave. It recalls their smiles of affectionate 
greeting, their tones of cheerful welcome ; tones and smiles 
such as none but they could give. Every image of peace, 
contentment, competence, abundance, and joy comes back 
spontaneously on each return of the grateful festival. It is not 
indeed a day heralded and emblazoned, like the correspond- 
ing festivals in our ancestral land, in all the pomp and glory 
of song. It has not been celebrated, like Christmas, by the 
imperial song of Milton, the dovelike notes of Herbert, or the 
classic beauty of Keble. 

In the cathedral of Limerick there hangs a peal of bells 
which was manufactured for a convent in Italy by an en- 
thusiast, who fixed his home for many years near the convent 
cliff to enjoy their daily chimes. In some political convulsion 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 287 

the bells and their manufacturer were swept away to another 
land. After a long interval the course of his wanderings 
brought him to Ireland. On a calm and beautiful evening, 
as the vessel which bore him floated along the broad stream of 
the Shannon, he suddenly heard the bells peal forth from the 
cathedral tower. They were the long-lost treasures of his 
memory. Home, happiness, friends, all early recollections, 
were in their sound. Crossing his arms on his breast, he lay 
back in the boat. When the rowers looked around they saw 
his face still turned to the cathedral ; but his eyes had closed 
forever on this world. Such a tide of memories had swept 
over the sympathetic cords of his heart that they snapped 
under the vibration. Who has not experienced the power of 
association in its milder and happier forms ? The return of 
an anniversary, the melody of a tune, the swinging of a church- 
bell, will set memory in motion, and unveil the pictures which 
hang on her sacred walls. 

The origin of this day was with a people who were exiles 
for the sake of truth and liberty, and who gave a soul to the 
scattered colonies of the western hemisphere. Te Deums had 
been chanted in the cathedrals of the Old World, by royal 
decree, at the birth of princes, the coronation of kings, and 
the issue of great battles; but the voluntary appointment 
of a day, by a whole people, for the distinctive purpose of 
rendering thanks to the Almighty for his manifold blessings, 
civil and religious, national and domestic, marks an epoch in 
history. Thanksgiving day is the festival of religious liberty. 
Removed to a distance from tyranny, passing from suffering, 
which called for brave defiance and patience, into success 
and enlargement, which inspired gratitude, religion, finding its 
freedom in the New World, poured out its carol at the very 
gate of heaven. 

This festival was first appointed by a people proverbially 
parsimonious in the designation of holidays. With the excep- 
tion of Election day and the Fourth of July, it was the one 
only holiday of the year. New- Year came and passed in the 



288 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

New England States with no recognition save in the present 
of a new primer, and a vague impression that it was the time 
for a boy to make good resolutions. But the last Thursday in 
November gathered to itself all fragrant and pleasant associa- 
tions. Toil is at rest and contented with its rewards. Plow 
and flail are exchanged for recreation. If nature is more silent 
than in earlier months, when birds and beasts are full of jocund 
music and life, it is the silence of peaceful contentment. The 
rich autumn sunlight bathes the sear and yellow stalks and 
husks of corn still standing in the field, reduced to the undress 
of the year, yet testifying of the golden wealth they have 
yielded to man. Barns bursting with plenty ; the cattle chew- 
ing the cud with mute thankfulness ; families reassembling in 
the old homestead ; mirth in the voices of the young, and 
placid delight warming the ashy hue of age — what images of 
serene satisfaction are those which are presented by this day 
of happy memories ! 

One of the chief advantages, we are told, of the national 
festivity of the Hebrews was that, by friendly intercourse be- 
tween different tribes, it promoted a spirit of common patriot- 
ism. If Thanksgiving would but be observed in a becoming 
spirit, how much would it accomplish in the way of purifying 
and strengthening the sentiment of nationality, which was 
fostered by ancestral memories, cemented by the blood of our 
fathers, and wrought into the structure of our continent by the 
hand of God, in the flow of rivers, the clasp of lakes and 
ridges, and the embracing arm of an unbroken seaboard! 
"The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are 
glad." If there is one peril more than another which 
threatens our prosperity it is that indifference to our mercies 
which might provoke God to withdraw them. May God in- 
cline us more and more to that unambitious, unselfish, con- 
tented, cheerful, thankful temper which is at once a medicine 
and a feast, an ornament and a protection. 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 289 



SURSUM CORDA. 

DAVID JAMES BURRELL, D.D., PASTOR OF THE DUTCH COLLE- 
GIATE CHURCH, NEW YORK CITY. 

The Book of Psalms, which was the hymnary of the ancient 
church, has much the advantage of our modern hymn-books 
in point of gladness. We note an ever-recurring prescript of 
gratitude, in one form or another : " Oh that men would praise 
the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the 
children of men ! " And everywhere we hear, like the theme 
of an oratorio, the pleasant refrain, " Praise ye the Lord ! " 
The effect would be even more delightsome did the voice of 
the minstrel fall directly on our ears ; for this " Praise ye the 
Lord " — like all inerrant Scriptures — suffers much in coming 
to us in a roundabout way. It is, indeed, but a single 
word — a ringing, jubilant word; a word with harps and cym- 
bals and glad voices and heavenly echoes in it. The word is 
"halleluiah." 

It is to be feared that as the world grows older it loses 
something of the exuberance of its youth. Certainly our lips 
are less accustomed than those of our fathers to hosannas and 
halleluiahs. We want ethics and didactics and dynamics and 
polemics ; and we want to sing them as well as to ponder and 
practise them. So farewell to holy merrymaking ! We are 
making life a very serious matter in these days. " As it ought 
to be," do you say ? Aye ; but even our blessed Lord joined 
his disciples in the singing of the Great Hallel as he passed under 
the shadow of the cross. A three-times welcome to Thanks- 
giving day, if it shall in any measure transfuse the blood of 
youth into our wizened veins, and quicken our pulses in re- 
sponse to God's innumerable mercies. Oh for the risen shade 
of some old-time precentor to pitch the tune : 

Come, my beloved, haste away ; 
Cut short the hours of thy delay ; 



290 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Come, like a youthful hart or roe, 
Over the hills where spices grow. 

Or, barring the possibility of "lifting" and "carrying" that 
ancient fugue, how would this answer ? 

Let us with a joyful mind 
Praise the Lord, for he is kind ; 
For his mercies shall endure, 
Ever faithful, ever sure. 

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord; and a 
natural thing — for even a dog licks the hand that caresses it ; 
and an easy thing, too. Our Lord is not over-particular as to 
phrases. Almost anything will answer, if it has a real halleluiah 
in it. Possibly we have been a trifle too hard on the Pharisee 
who said, " God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men." 
This was a great deal better than no thanksgiving at all. His 
expression was well enough if he had only meant it. Thales, 
in like manner, was accustomed to give thanks for three things : 
first, because he was a man and not a beast ; second, because 
he was a man and not a woman ; third, because he was a Greek 
and not a barbarian. In our times it would be fitter to thank 
God, first, that we are vertebrates and not polyps (if we are) ; 
second, that we have come to understand " man " to be a 
generic term, feminine as well as masculine in its implication 
of rights and responsibilities ; and third, that we are American 
cosmopolites, with a place in our hearts for all the children of 
men. 

In the usual Thanksgiving Proclamation we are exhorted to 
come together, not only in places of worship, but in our homes, 
to praise God. This is as it should be ; for it is God that 
setteth the solitary in families. The "wee bit ingle, blinkin' 
bonnily," is the Lord's gift ; the thrifty wifie's smile and the 
prattling of the bairnies are from him. God be thanked for 
our unspeakably pleasant American home life! 

But bow shall we sing praises in the valley of Baca ? The 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 291 

unbidden guest has entered many a door, and voices are hushed 
that joined our merrymaking a year ago. Alas that tears must 
mingle with our songs ! But oh, the joy of believing that our 
loved ones are just yonder, separated from us only by the thin 
veil of the " little while " ! What a Thanksgiving day that will 
be — what a home-bringing — when we meet them again ! All 
the bright and joyous days of earth rolled into one cannot equal 
that. Meanwhile every tear that we shed has a rainbow in it, 
and the memory of the dead comes to us like a breath of sweet- 
ness from the King's gardens. 

No, there is nothing that should hinder the praises of God's 
sons and daughters on Thanksgiving day. We are much too 
prone to sadness ; not overserious, but overmelancholy. In 
the Talmud we are told of a stringed instrument that hung 
over King David's bed in such a position that when the 
pleasant north winds blew in the night it sounded sweetly of 
itself ; " and he forthwith arose and occupied himself with the 
law until he saw the pillars of the dawn." Our lives are en- 
vironed with God's goodness. We sleep in the midst of un- 
touched harps of blessing. Let us arise and sweep their strings 
on this Thanksgiving day. 

Awake, sad heart, whom sorrow ever drowns ; 

Lift up thy eyes that ever feed on earth ; 
Unfold thy forehead, gathered into frowns, 

For lo ! thy Saviour comes, and with him mirth ; 
Awake ! awake ! 

Christian Intelligencer, 



THE GRACE OF THANKFULNESS. 

H. D. FISHER, D.D. 

No grace is more becoming than that of thankfulness. All 
acceptable devotion is coupled with this excellent and improv- 
ing spirit, and God's Word abounds with exhortations to its 
exercise; " in everything give thanks," for this is good and ac- 



292 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

ceptable unto God. It is good because of the reflex influence 
upon ourselves ; it is acceptable to God because it includes the 
recognition of our dependence upon him "in whom we live, 
and move, and have our being." From him cometh every 
good and perfect gift, and with him is neither variableness nor 
shadow of turning. He is the only wise God, our Father, and 
teaches his children to be thankful. The reflex influence is 
seen in the preparation of the heart to receive greater bless- 
ings, and in that it creates a sweeter joy in contemplation of those 
already received. It creates a contented spirit, and demon- 
strates the fact that godliness with contentment is great gain. 
We are largely the gainers by the exercise of gratitude. Willing 
as God is to bestow good gifts upon his children, he more cheer- 
fully gives to those who appreciate and recognize his gifts. 

All men detest an ingrate. He who can receive daily bene- 
fits and not be moved with thankfulness is an ingrate. It is 
evidence of a wise mind and an appreciative heart to be thank- 
ful for received benefits, and to constantly say, " Thy mercies 
are new every morning, and fresh every evening; how great 
are thy mercies, O Lord God of hosts ! " 

Perhaps no Christian duty is more neglected than the culti- 
vation of thankfulness of spirit. We are so easily affected by 
our environments, by our moods and those surrounding us, 
that we are inclined to murmur and complain at every little 
event that occurs contrary to our expectation; and many of 
us have no settled plans of work, yet are disturbed by any 
event that seems to cross our path, not remembering that all 
things work together for good to them that love the Lord. 
We worry ourselves and others with our little disappointments, 
and frequently imagine ourselves in trouble over coming events, 
when in reality they never come. The cultivation of thank- 
fulness would lend a luster of brightness to many a scene that 
otherwise appears dark, and cause us to rejoice and be glad 
when otherwise we would be sad. Thankfulness on our part 
would make others have a higher appreciation of the common 
blessings of life, and would tend to greatly augment the volume 
of happiness in the world. 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 293 

The manner and spirit in which we observe Thanksgiving 
should be seriously considered. It should be with pious and 
devout spirit. Our superior blessings are of a spiritual nature 
and design. Then it should be observed with increased lib- 
erality and benevolence, especially toward the worthy poor. 
" As good stewards of the manifold grace of God," let us so 
minister as we have received. God giveth bountifully and 
cheerfully. Let, therefore, our Thanksgiving be accompanied 
with bountiful and cheerful giving to the church and poor. 

Christian Herald. 



GRATEFUL THANKS. 

J. B. WALKER, D.D. 

As a Christian people, who do not believe that the world is 
ruled by blind chance or irresponsible and irresistible forces, 
but by an intelligent and beneficent Providence, and that the 
Most High rules in the kingdoms of the children of men, it is 
eminently proper that we should, in our national capacity, from 
the chief magistrate to the humblest citizen, be called to rec- 
ognize and thank the beneficent Author of all our mercies. 
God has rolled the seasons round ; seed-time and harvest have 
come, and we have received again the kindly fruits of the 
earth ; a wide rain of benedictions has been poured upon our 
extended fields. 

As a Christian nation we should continually seek to teach 
our children that we live under the rule of an all-wise Provi- 
dence ; that it is God who setteth up and putteth down ; that 
majesty and power come from him. 

As a nation we have been saved from the great scourges of 
pestilence, famine, and war ; and this day we may say, with- 
out patriotic egotism, that we present to the world the most 
magnificent spectacle of national well-being the ages of history 
have ever seen. We live under the reign of just and equal laws, 
which we have enacted ; laws administered by men whom we 
have elected, and who are responsible to us for their adminis- 



294 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

tration. In God's providence we are in a position to com- 
mand the respect of the world, and to protect all our rights. 

Our future, as a nation, promises to realize our most patriotic 
hopes. If we are faithful to our trusts it may for long years 
be said to us : " Happy art thou, O favored people : who is 
like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy 
help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine ene- 
mies shall be found liars unto thee ; and thou shalt tread upon 
their high places." 

As Christian men we never had more cause for thankfulness 
than now. The ever-increasing victories of the cross, in mul- 
titudes of revivals, in all parts of our wide land and through- 
out the world; the deepening and fast-spreading interest in 
missions ; the many godly men and consecrated women vol- 
unteering for evangelical labors in foreign fields, are most hope- 
ful, and brightly prophetic of the Redeemer's universal triumph. 

Let us, then, as good citizens, as believers in God, gratefully 
keep Thanksgiving day. Let us crowd to his sanctuaries, and 
praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Let households 
and friends gather about their firesides and well-spread boards, 
and let charities to the poor brighten and commemorate the 
day, that it may be to us all long a pleasant memory. 

Herald and Presbvter. 



OUR FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 

A Meditation before the Open Fire the Night before 
Thanksgiving. 

henry m. field, d.d. 

I have come up to the Berkshire Hills to keep Thanksgiv- 
ing in the old home. Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving any- 
where else. To be sure, it has grown from being a festival 
peculiar to New England till it has spread over the country, 
and the day is fixed by the President's proclamation. But 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 295 

this is not the whole of Thanksgiving, nor the half of it ; it is 
the associations of time and place, which call up a thousand 
remembrances of the living and the dead. These memories 
bring back the scenes of other years, and make the old young 
again, until the recollections of the past become the best les- 
sons for the future. These lessons and this inspiration we can- 
not get until we come back to the old home, and to the old 
meeting-house, where we were wont to worship with those who 
are now with the saints in light. 

But some may think this is not the time of year for a Feast 
of Tabernacles, since the summer is gone, and even the glory 
of autumn has disappeared. The forests are stripped of their 
foliage, and the mountains around our valley are bleak and 
bare. But our Thanksgiving, being more than a month later 
than the Feast of Tabernacles as kept by the Jews, cannot be 
observed, as that was, out of doors, in tents and booths that 
were pitched on all the hills round about Jerusalem. Our 
festival is not out of doors, but indoors, where we laugh at the 
winds that blow and the storms that rage without, which do 
but add to our sense of comfort and security. If some city- 
bred stranger, whose blood is thin and whose face is pale, 
should come up among these hills at this season of the year, 
and straightway begin to shiver as he muffles himself up in 
his overcoat lined with furs, and chatters between his teeth, 
" How the wind howls ! " we answer, " Let it howl ! Little 
harm can it do us, as we sit before the great open fireplace, 
and pile on the logs, and hear the flames roar up the chimney ! " 
Indeed; it is the contrast between the wintry scene without 
and the warmth and glow within that gives a peculiar charm 
to a Thanksgiving in the country, as it does to Christmas also. 
And so let us gather round the fire to-night. Do not light the 
lamp, for there is nothing to stir up old memories like the fire 
on the hearth, that flashes up in the faces of those we love, 
while 

Shadows from the fitful firelight 
Dance upon the parlor wall. 



296 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

But among our friends there are some to whom the year 
that is closing has been a very sad one. The little family 
circle has been broken, and they tell us in voices choked with 
feeling that they cannot come back to the old home, for the 
very reason that it would break their hearts to sit at the old 
tea-table and round the old hearthstone, and miss the dear 
faces that have vanished out of their sight. Home is no longer 
home, when those who made it so bright and joyous are not 
there to greet them ; and they walk through empty rooms that 
are associated only with sickness, suffering, and death. 

This desolate feeling I appreciate, for I have known it, as 
one after another of my kindred have gone to the grave. And 
yet, with all that is so sad in these separations, how sweet and 
tender is the memory of those who once walked by our side! 
And this is one of the sweet influences of Thanksgiving, that 
it is the one day of all the year when our departed ones come 
back to us, and take their places in the little circle of which 
they were once a part ; that their faces look into ours so ten- 
derly, and we hear the whisper of familiar voices : 

Soft rebukes, in blessings ended, 
Breathing from their lips of air. 

This year's Thanksgiving touches me more nearly because 
it comes on the birthday of one who was inexpressibly dear to 
me. From our hilltop I look across the valley to the spot where 
stood the house in which I was born, and where, two and a half 
years before (November 30, 1819), was born one* whose " line 
[stretching over land and sea] has gone out through all the 
earth," and his "words to the end of the world." Will there be 
any disaccord in the flow of my thoughts to-morrow, if when I 
come from the old church, with a heart full of gratitude to my 
Maker for all his goodness, I walk across the green to the spot 
where that brother sleeps, beside my father and mother ? On 
the contrary, I shall feel there, as nowhere else, how much I owe 

* Cyrus W. Field, who laid the first Atlantic cable telegraph. 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 297 

to the goodness that gave me such parents and such a brother. 
From their silent beds they speak to me words not only of love, 
but of courage and of hope, to make me strong for the battles 
of life. How true are the lines in which our American poet 
has expressed what we all feel : 

Oh, though oft depressed and lonely, 

All my fears are laid aside, 
If I but remember only, 

Such as these have lived and died. 

The same associations give a peculiar tenderness to the 
worship of God on Thanksgiving day. The old "meeting- 
house " on the village green touches my heart more than any 
grand church or cathedral, because it is full of these sacred 
memories. As I enter the door I see a tablet on the wall in 
memory of one whose name I bear, and of whom it is en- 
graven there, " The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found 
in the way of righteousness " — a sentence never more fitly ap- 
plied than to him, to whose white hairs all looked up with ten- 
der reverence. And now, as I listen to the prayers and hymns, 
it seems as if there were floating above me a host of unseen 
worshipers, and that I caught the echoes — faint and far off, it 
may be, but none the less real — of the songs that they sing 
before the throne. 

To recall such memories does me good ; if it makes me sad 
I hope it makes me a wiser and a better man ; perhaps a simi- 
lar exercise may do good to others. My prayer is that the 
year to come may be to us all more full of reasons for thank- 
fulness, because more diligently spent in the service of our 
common Master. Evangelist. 

TRUE THANKSGIVING. 

A. B. POPE. 

It is entirely meet and proper that our chief magistrate 
should set apart one day in the year's calendar as a day of 



298 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

national thanksgiving, when a great, busy, restless people may 
pause in the midst of life's hurry, and, turning from things sec- 
ular, consider the great Source of all those providences that 
have made up the sum total of life during the past year. 

The occasion is one of national interest, yet it possesses a 
significance that is intensely individual. And while the spirit 
of the day is primarily that of thanksgiving, yet it furnishes to 
every earnest soul the opportunity for retrospection, self-ex- 
amination, and promised amendment. The record of the past 
twelve months includes much that is imperfect. Duties have 
been neglected, gaps have been left down along the way, op- 
portunities for self-improvement, strength-getting, and char- 
acter-building — seasons of watchfulness, from which the soul 
might have come forth in sweet and chastened majesty to 
renew its conflicts and triumph over its enemies — have passed 
unimproved. All this furnishes ground for heart-searching — 
earnest, conscientious, and thorough — and repentance, deep 
and honest. It is well if out of this season of self-arraignment 
and contrition there is born holier purpose, nobler endeavor, 
and better work for the future. 

Perhaps my pen is digressing somewhat. This is Thanks- 
giving day. Its observance ought to be in the best sense re- 
ligious. And it might be well to this end to review the feelings 
and emotions with which we approach it. Much of our thank- 
fulness may be purely selfish. There are some with whom 
things have gone well this year. The family circle has re- 
mained unbroken. No wasting sickness has come into the 
home. Prosperity has left its blessings. The table is laden 
with plenty. There is meat in the larder and grain in the 
storehouse. Because of these things they imagine they are 
grateful; but such gratitude is of the essence of selfishness. 
It is dependent upon exterior conditions. It finds its basis in 
circumstances. It draws its inspiration from clear skies and 
smooth sailing, and hence it is fitful and evanescent as the 
alternations of sunlight and shadow. If these conditions of 
personal comfort and prosperity are in themselves the ground 



TIIANKSGIVIXG SERVICE. 299 

of thankfulness, where in the hour of adversity shall we find 
occasion for rejoicing ? The record of the past has its graver 
side. There have been pain and losses and disappointments 
and bereavements and heartaches. Where in these things is 
there reason and ground for gratitude ? Has the empty larder, 
the bare table, the desolate home, the vacant chair, the fresh 
mound in the cemetery, no place for thanksgiving ? Ah, just 
here is the point of stumbling with many an earnest soul. We 
find in the bitter chill of adversity the true test of our grati- 
tude. And that is true gratitude which, triumphing over con- 
ditions merely physical and external, finds its ground of thank- 
fulness in God himself. It is independent of circumstances. 
It goes beneath the surface of life, whether sad or joyous, and 
founds itself upon God. 

Have we been blessed in temporal things ? Back of the 
gift lies the Giver. Have there been afflictions and discou- 
ragements — seasons of pain and weariness, to which the passing 
days and the revolving years have brought no relief ? Behind 
the affliction is the divine love that rebukes and chastens ; 
while within and above the varying fortunes of human life 
and the fluctuations of human history is the Providence that 
creates and controls ; restraining, directing, overruling — bring- 
ing all things to "work together for good to them that love 
God." 

Here is the basis of that "peace that passeth understand- 
ing " — that spirit of rejoicing that finds expression in the sub- 
limest strains of sacred song. The prophet Habakkuk, after 
graphically describing the woes that should come upon the 
people because of disobedience, breaks forth into the following 
strains of triumph : " Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, 
neither shall fruit be in the vines ; the labor of the olive shall 
fail, and the fields shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut 
off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls : yet 
I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salva- 
tion." 

This is the spirit of true gratitude, that finds room for rejoic- 



300 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION'. 

ing when all the sources of human comfort and earthly joy are 
cut off. 

This is the spirit which will make each Christian home the 
very sanctuary of God, and each consecrated hearthstone an 
altar whence arises the incense of ceaseless praise. Let it be 
the spirit of this glad Thanksgiving day. Nor financial pres- 
sure, nor cry of hard times, nor anxiety for the future shall 
steal in to mar its brightness or make it a songless day. 

Wesleyan Christian Advocate. 



THANKSGIVING-DAY MANNA. 

LILLIAN F. LEWIS. 

Eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. — 
Isa. lx. 2. 

Offer unto God thanksgiving. — Ps. 1. 14. 

When we read the customary call of the President of the 
United States, and of the governor of the State in which we 
live, to set apart and religiously observe a specified, day as a 
season of praise and thanksgiving unto "the Giver of every 
good and perfect gift," we are reminded of Nehemiah's thanks- 
giving proclamation : " Go your way, eat the fat, and drink 
the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is 
prepared : for this day is holy unto our Lord : neither be ye 
sorry ; for the joy of the Lord is your strength." How com- 
prehensive, yet how condensed ! We might supplement, how- 
ever, as a fuller completion, the call of David : " Serve the 
Lord with gladness. . . . Enter into his gates with thanksgiv- 
ing, and into his courts with praise : be thankful unto him, and 
bless his name." As in obedience we repair to the house of 
the Lord, we seem to there catch a portion of that writer's 
thanksgiving and prayer recorded in 1 Chronicles xxix. 10-15. 

Israel's " sweet singer " comprehended the true mission of 
this spirit of worship when he declared, " I will praise the 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 301 

name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiv- 
ing." That is the thought. We are to "joy in the Lord," and 
to call upon all that is within us to bless his holy name, and 
to "forget not all his benefits"; "to sing forth the honor of 
his name, and make his praise glorious." No wonder he ex- 
horts : " Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, 
and for his wonderful works to the children of men ! And let 
them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his 
works with rejoicing." For, as he could testify, "it is a good 
thing to give thanks unto the Lord;" and we have His own 
gracious assurance, " Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me." 

Paul almost equals David in repetition of appeal to thus 
magnify the Lord, teaching that " in everything by prayer and 
supplication with thanksgiving " we should " rejoice in the Lord 
aJway," and hold glad communion with him. 

Throughout Scripture the inspired writers bring witness and 
word of like purport. Even in the Book of Lamentations, with 
its burden of plaint : " See if there be any sorrow like unto 
my sorrow " — in which we look for " the spirit of heaviness " 
rather than for " the garment of praise " — there is the grateful 
confession and the exhortation of " the faithful," making their 
boast in the Lord : "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are 
not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are 
new every morning : great is thy faithfulness. . . . Let us lift 
up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens." The 
Lord would win us by all these persuasive precepts ; but if we 
fail to respond, then he warns : " Because thou servedst not 
the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, 
for the abundance of all things" — therefore, not only con- 
demnation, but punishment (Deut. xxviii. 47). 

In the " Thanksgiving " collect of the Episcopal Prayer-book 
there is the practical petition : " We beseech thee, give us that 
due sense of all thy mercies that our hearts may be unfeignedly 
thankful, and that we may show forth thy praise, not only with 
our lips, but in our lives." In our lives ! After all, that is the 
thanksgiving message of our divine Ruler in its brevity and 



302 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

fullness. It has been tersely said that thanksgiving should be 
spelled " thanksliving " in the Christian lexicon ; and there is 
a familiar sermon in verse : 

So let our lips and lives express 
The holy gospel we profess ; 
Thus shall we best proclaim abroad 
The honors of our Saviour God. 

As "living epistles" of the "glad tidings," and the mani- 
fold riches and mercies which it includes, we shall most accept- 
ably " praise God, from whom all blessings flow " ; and others 
shall take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus ; that 
we " sat down under his shadow with great delight " ; and that 
he brought us to the banqueting-house of his love. 

Herald and Presbyter. 



THANKFUL IN ALL THINGS. 

We count too often only the rosary of our outward prosper- 
ities, and measure our gratitude too much by the shining pearls 
of our successes, as we sit in silent review of the year at the 
Thanksgiving service. There is a deeper and a truer thankful- 
ness than this, and Mr. Howells has put it into strong verse : 

Lord, for the erring thought 
Not into evil wrought ; 
Lord, for the wicked will 
Betrayed and baffled still ; 
For the heart from itself kept, 
Our thanksgiving accept. 

For ignorant hopes that were 
Broken to our blind prayer ; 
For pain, death, sorrow, sent 
Unto our chastisement ; 
For all loss of seeming good, 
Quicken our gratitude. 



THANKSGIl r ING SER J 'ICE. 303 

There is a truer prosperity than that which counts its bank- 
notes, its bonds, stocks, and bushels of wheat. For health and 
vigor, for increase of goods, for unbroken family circles, and 
for unsundered friendships it is our duty to give thanks. But 
is Thanksgiving day only for those who are prosperous as the 
world counts prosperity ? Is there to be no song of rejoicing, 
no prayer of gratitude to the infinite Giver, from the house- 
holds that are darkened and the hearts that are desolate ? 
" Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him," said the noble 
old man out of whose opulent life a whirlwind of trouble had 
swept every possession, every earthly affection, every earthly 
hope. 

We thank God for the flower, we do not tnank him enough 
for the seed ; we thank him for the perfect fruit, we do not 
thank him enough for the long, slow process by which the fruit 
ripens ; we thank him for the summer, with its soft air and its 
masses of fragrant color, we do not thank him for the winter, 
with its blasts and its snows. And yet his goodness is as great 
in the cold as in the heat, in the storm as in the calm, in the 
cloud as in the sunshine. We are continually asking for cou- 
rage and fortitude, but when the hard and perilous times come 
which mold our feebleness into strength, and transform our 
timorousness into bravery, we do not see that our prayer is 
being answered ; we send up daily petitions for patience, but 
when annoyances and perplexities throw their meshes over us, 
and train us into the very habit we ask for, we fail to read in 
them the reply of Divine Providence. Our heartfelt longing is 
for the development of the highest and noblest things that are 
in us, but our thanksgiving limits itself too often to the com- 
forts and pleasures that satisfy our poorest cravings. We are 
thankful to be comfortable when we ought to rejoice that God 
will not suffer us to find comfort in any but the highest things. 

We need to thank God that he denies our wishes, thwarts 
our plans, defeats our purposes. The true thanksgiving service 
must make room for every son of man, however afflicted or 
sorrowing. It is not only a feast for the rich and happy; it 



304 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

has its prayer of gratitude and its psalm of praise for the poor 
and the afflicted. We must rejoice not in ourselves, but in 
God ; we must count not our own prosperities, but the minis- 
tries of his infinite love. He lives, and we live in him ; his life 
sweeps our little lives within the impregnable circle of an un- 
changing and an unfailing love. Wealth comes with the morn- 
ing, and at night it has taken wings and is gone ; pleasure 
smiles upon us and then hides herself ; friends come close to 
our innermost souls and then vanish out of sight ; hands that 
minister to us grow cold, eyes that shine like stars of hope upon 
us are closed, hearts that beat for us are stilled; but God 
abides, and the mighty power of his immortality makes all that 
we worthily love imperishable. 

Faith lays the foundation of an hourly and eternal gratitude, 
and gives the key-note of an everlasting song. We are weak, 
but One is strong, and we lean upon him forever ; we are but 
for a day, but One is for eternity, and we breathe the air of 
his immortality ; our lives change and are at the mercy of winds 
and storms, but One holds the winds in the hollow of his hands, 
and he is our God, our Friend, our Comforter. We cannot 
tell what a day may bring forth, but the future unrolls like a 
scroll before his gaze. We do not know the possibilities of our 
own natures, nor what to ask for when we crave a blessing; 
he sees the seeds of immortal beauty and fruitage that are sown 
in us ; he brings the winter that fertilizes and protects the soil, 
the summer that enriches and vitalizes it, the autumn that brings 
mellow and beautiful fruit. We see ourselves in the dim light 
of a brief earthly day, God sees us in the radiance of eternity ; 
we ask for that which will make us comfortable for an hour, 
God gives us that which will enrich us forever; we plan for 
time, God brushes aside our poor structure, and lays for us, 
broad and deep, immortal foundations. Thank God, then, not 
only for the golden coin which drops from his treasury into 
our lives, but also for the inexhaustible wealth which bears an 
image and superscription which we have not yet learned to 
value at its worth; thank him for health, lands, and friends, 



TIL iNKSGl J VNG SE& I 'ICE. 305 

but thank him above all for that sleepless and changeless min- 
istry, whether of joy or sorrow, which makes us the heirs of 
his glory and the children of his immortality. 

Christian Union. 



HISTORIC THANKSGIVINGS. 

OLIVE E. DANA. 

The " rock-bound " New England soil, where the Pilgrims 
trod, held many a marvelous germ in its seemingly cold and 
sterile depths ; and the land is fair to-day with the bloom 
thereof. I like to think of those first Thanksgivings, and of 
the prayers, born of sore distress and want, that preluded their 
praises. As unlike their feast-days seem to ours as their lives 
to ours. Their thought of Thanksgiving day, embodied in the 
national institution, is at once singularly characteristic and in- 
congruous. It was the expression of their deep devoutness, 
the most simple and natural thing, this appointment of a day 
of praise. Yet it was, in its gladness and good cheer, a strange 
graft on the tree of Puritan life. 

But it was, and is, the flower of the New England year, 
beautiful with the glow of unnumbered homes and hearth- 
stones, fragrant with the dearest of human associations. So, 
all the more because the day is so much to us, we like to know 
what it was to those who kept it first. 

The first Thanksgiving was kept when the colonists had 
gathered their first harvests in the new land — in 162 1. Nearly 
two years had passed before the next Thanksgiving. The 
second harvest may not have seemed so wonderful a boon as 
the first, long waited for. So often does repetition cheapen 
our joys and dull our gratitude ! I quote from the historian 
of an earlier generation : 

"In 1623 fears were entertained for the safety of the colo- 
nists, by reason of an anticipated famine. From the third week 



306 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION, 

in May to the middle of July no rain fell. The corn withered 
under the heat of a scorching sun. The Indians prophesied 
famine for the colony, and a consequent easy triumph over 
them. In this extremity a public fast was observed with great 
solemnity — the first voluntary fast ever kept on these Western 
shores. The morning of the fast was cloudless, and the day 
proved intensely hot. But as evening approached, clouds 
collected, and rain descended in moderate but refreshing show- 
ers; the languishing crops revived, and a bountiful harvest 
succeeded. In token of the general gratitude a day of public 
thanksgiving was ordered — the second such day ever observed 
in New England." 

In 1 63 1 another fast-day was turned into thanksgiving by 
the arrival of needed supplies. 

It is of a similar event in the preceding year that Hezekiah 
Butterworth sings in "The First Boston Thanksgiving." In 
that year— 1630 — Governor Winthrop came with eight hun- 
dred new colonists. 

The white wings folded, anchors down, 

The sea-worn fleet in line, 
Fair rose the hills where Boston town 

Should rise from clouds of pine ; 
Fair was the harbor, summit-walled, 

And placid lay the sea. 
" Praise ye the Lord," the leader called, 

"Praise ye the Lord," spake he. 
" Give thanks to God with fervent lips, 

Give thanks to God to-day." 
The anthem rose from all the ships, 

Safe-moored in Boston Bay. 

The Arabella leads the song, 

The Mayflower sings below, 
That erst the Pilgrims bore along 

The Plymouth reefs of snow. 
Oh ! never be that psalm forgot, 

That rose o'er Boston Bay, 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 307 

When Winthrop sang, and Endicott 

And Saltonstall, that day, 
" Praise ye the Lord with fervent lips, 

Praise ye the Lord to-day." 



There is recorded the appointment of Thanksgiving days in 
the colonies in 1632, 1633, 1634, 1637, 1638, and 1639; a ^ so 
in 1668, 1680, 1689, 1690. The wording of the later of these 
proclamations shows, it is said, that it had become an annual 
custom. Some of these appointments of the earlier years 
were for various reasons, and they were not all in the au- 
tumn. 

Some earlier ones were occasioned by the arrival of ships 
with supplies of food and reinforcements; but the later 
ones here named were for harvest and after the harvest-time. 

How did they keep these first Thanksgivings ? Not with 
any lavish abundance, not w T ith overmuch variety, not always 
with things we deem necessities. Those were times when " it 
would have been a strange thing," as a colonist wrote, " to see 
a piece of roast beef or mutton or veal." Frost-fish, mussels, 
and clams were a relief unto many." And one of them wrote : 
" Bread was so very scarce that sometimes I thought the very 
crumbs of my father's table would be sweet unto me. And 
when I could have meal and water and salt boiled together, 
it was so good, who could wish better ? " But one of them 
had said : " A sup of New England air was better than a whole 
draft of Old England ale." 

Good Governor Winthrop, in those earlier days, wrote to 
his wife in the mother-country: "We here enjoy God and 
Jesus Christ ; and is not that enough ? I thank God I like 
so well to be here I do not repent my coming. ... I never 
had more content of mind." 

Since President Lincoln's proclamation in 1862, Thanks- 
giving has been a yearly national holiday, appointed by the 
President, the governors of the several States in their proclama- 
tions naming the same date. 



308 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

The Pilgrim seed has taken root, 
Despite the land so hard and gray, 
And, flowered to this Thanksgiving day, 

Shall yet bring forth abundant fruit. 

Golden Rule. 



THE PILGRIMS' THANKSGIVING.* 

ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D.D. 

To the Pilgrim fathers, the earliest workmen on this great 
fabric of republicanism, we owe our feast of Thanksgiving. 
They were not content to lay the foundations in the rough 
granite of practical utility, nor to surmount this with those 
Corinthian columns of a perfect state, popular education ; 
crowning the whole as with a dome, they built in the element 
of Christian faith. And so, as each year we come up to keep 
our harvest-feast, like those who cast at the foot of the column 
in the Place Vendome their wreaths of amaranth to keep green 
the memory of the first Napoleon, we are garlanding with our 
praises the memory of the Pilgrims. 

The pious Puritans daily besought God that the seeds of 
liberty and religion that dropped from the petals of the May- 
flower upon that sterile shore might not die blasted in the germ. 
They had not long been settled, however, before their little 
stores began to fail, and many needed bread. This was in 
early spring. In April they sowed their corn, and at first it 
promised a plentiful harvest. But the skies soon shut their 
flood-gates, and so closely that not only the longer rains, but 
shorter showers came not down to refresh the thirsty vitals of 
the growing grain. The earth became dry as dust, and the 
harvest drooped and gave up its auspice of rich abundance for 
an omen of quick decay. 

Six weary weeks of waiting, and those " Pilgrims and stran- 

* From an article in the Episcopal Recorder* 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 3°9 

gers " set apart a day of prayer, when the whole colony became 
a suppliant for rain. How fair rose the morn, whose cloudless 
azure was to that Pilgrim band a pall of gloom — a seeming 
mockery of their hopes ! The golden beams bore no bright- 
ness into anxious hearts, before whom gaunt famine stalked, 
pointing at them with skeleton finger, and lifting before them 
the warning hour-glass of death. Nine hours of ceaseless 
prayer, and yet the sun's ironical smiles taunted the tears of 
their sad eyes. The air was close and hot ; yet their fervor 
and faith rose amid all discouragements to new supplication. 
Toward evening clouds moved across the brazen sky, and 
moisture began to distil gently but abundantly from the " waters 
above the firmament " ; and the drooping leaves and relaxed 
stalks stiffened and straightened, and the bowed heads of the 
grain lifted themselves as in thanksgiving. The crisp harvest 
seemed to grow green and fill out its kernels as the rains came 
down ; and so a plentiful yield answered importunate prayer. 

Edward Winslow, writing to his dear old home more than 
two hundred and fifty years ago, tells us how the harvest was 
gathered, and how Governor William Bradford — the second 
of the colony, who from 1621 to 1657 almost constantly filled 
the magisterial chair — after the autumn stores had been gath- 
ered, sent a company for game, and then celebrated a Feast of 
Ingathering, Massasoit and ninety of his Indians mingling with 
them in their rejoicing. They all' thanked God with united 
hearts for the good world, and the good things in it. And so 
the pious Puritans kept their first Thanksgiving, and set us an 
example. 

A quarter-century elapsed, and Governor Bradford declared 
that since that day no man of the colony had wanted for food. 
And such is the story of the annual Thanksgiving. It was a 
thought first from God, and then, after an interval of centuries, 
throbbed out again from Pilgrim hearts at Plymouth, and sent 
coursing down the years, as we hope, for all time to come. 



310 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

WHEN HARVEST DAYS ARE OVER. 

MISS M. E. WINSLOW. 

When harvest days are over, 

And sheaves crowd the eaves; . 
When on the dying clover 

Lie drifted heaps of leaves ; 
When October's gold has faded, 

And November's branches bare, 
Like witches gaunt and jaded, 

Toss in the stormy air — 

Then we light the wintry fires, 

And their blaze upward plays, 
As we gather, like our sires 

In the stalwart early days, 
To count our mercies over, 

And to reckon up the store 
That spring and summer labored 

In our open hands to pour. 

'Tis a custom worth the keeping 

With the noise of the boys ; 
And we think the fathers sleeping 

Even now share our joys, 
From the better country gazing 

On the many-peopled land, 
Its harvest so amazing, 

From their sowing on the strand. 

Do they see from heights Elysian, 

In their cold home of old, 
Souls as pure and true in vision, 

Hearts as fearless, words as bold ? 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 31 1 

Is the purpose of the people 

Still, as then, that right be might ? 

Does it peal from every steeple, 
Inspiration for life's fight ? 

Are our arms, like theirs, still wielding 

The sword of the Lord ? 
Never flinching, never yielding, 

Are we holding fast his Word ? 
Never trailing low our banner, 

Do we wave it o'er the free ? 
Is our battle-cry " Hosanna ! " 

For perfect liberty ? 

Then gladly let us gather, 

In the snow or the blow, 
Though wintry outside weather, 

Within the fireside glow ; 
From million homes let freemen 

Their glad thanksgivings raise, 
Till mountain-peak and canon 

Alike shall echo praise. 

Then when, like them, we're sleeping, 

Our sheaves in the eaves, 
The turf our low graves keeping 

Warm with piled-up autumn leaves, 
In the gladness of that living 

We shall count our garnered store ; 
We shall sing our glad thanksgiving 

Of praise forevermore. 

Zioifs Herald. 



12 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

THE CROWN OF THE YEAR. 

CELIA THAXTER. 

-N sapphire, emerald, amethyst, 
Sparkles the sea by the morning kissed ; 
And the mists from the far-off valleys lie 
Gleaming like pearl in the tender sky ; 
Soft shapes of cloud that melt and drift, 
With tints of opal that glow and shift. 

For the strong wind blows from the warm southwest 
And ruffles the snow on the white gull's breast ; 
Fills all the sails till the boats careen- 
Low over the crested waves they lean, 
Driven to leeward, dashed with spray, 
Or beating up through the beautiful bay. 

Ah, happy morning of autumn sweet, 
Yet ripe and rich with the summer's heat ! 
By the ruined wall on the rocky height, 
In shadow I gaze at the changing light, 
Splendor of color that clothes thee round, 
Huge orb of the earth, to its utmost bound. 

Near me each humble flower and weed — 
The dock's rich umber, gone to seed, 
The hawk-bit's gold, the bayberry's spice, 
One late wild rose beyond all price ; 
Each is a friend and all are dear, 
Pathetic signs of the waning year. 

The painted rose-haws, how they glow ! 
Like crimson wine the woodbines show; 
The wholesome yarrow's clusters fine 
Like frosted silver dimly shine ; 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 3 X 3 

And who thy quaintest charm shall tell, 
Thou little scarlet pimpernel ? 

The jeweled sea and the deeps of the air, 

All heaven and earth are good and fair ; 

Ferns at my feet, and the mullen's spike, 

And the soaring gull, I love alike ; 

With the schooner's grace as she leans to the tide 

The soul within me is satisfied. 

In the mellow, golden autumn days, 

When the world is zoned in their purple haze, 

A spirit of beauty walks abroad, 

That fills the heart with the peace of God ; 

The spring and summer may bless and cheer, 

But autumn brings us the crown o' the year. 

Independent, 



MANIFOLD BLESSINGS. 



Thy blessings, Lord, give harvests birth, 
With riches fill the teeming earth, 
Adorn the fields with golden grain, 
And heap with treasures hill and plain ; 
To cities give their wealth and peace, 
And make the nation's large increase. 

Chorus — Thy bounty, Lord, is manifold, 
Surpassing all the worth of gold ; 
For loving kindred, home, and health 
Are better far than boundless wealth. 

The rain falls gently from thy hand, 
And beauty spreads o'er all the land ; 



3 H THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

While everywhere among the hills 
Is heard the music of the rills. 
Thy breath, in fragrant breezes blown, 
Gives life and joy to valleys sown. 

The circling seasons, full of glee, 
Lift up their voice, O God, to thee ; . 
The king of day, the stars of night, 
The changing moon with silver light, 
Are radiant with a thankful mind, 
And all proclaim the Lord is kind. 

For tables spread with loving care, 
And garnished with delicious fare, 
For welcome in the kindly home, 
For worship in the sacred dome, 
Our thankful hearts, O God, we raise, 
And sing to thee our song of praise. 

Evangelist. 



THANKS BE TO GOD. 

FRANCES R. HAVERGAL. 

Thanks be to God ! to whom earth owes 

Sunshine and breeze, 
The heath-clad hill, the vale's repose, 

Streamlet and seas, 
The snowdrop and the summer rose, 

The many-voiced trees. 

Thanks for the darkness that reveals 

Night's starry dower ; 
And for the sable cloud that heals 

Each fevered flower; 
And for the rushing storm that peals 

Our weakness and thy power. 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 315 

Thanks for the sweetly lingering might 

In music's tone ; 
For paths of knowledge, whose calm light 

Is all thine own ; 
For thoughts that at the infinite 

Fold their bright wings alone. 

Yet thanks that silence oft may flow 

In dewlike store ; 
Thanks for the mysteries that show 

How small our lore ; 
Thanks that we here so little know, 

And trust thee all the more. 

Thanks for the gladness that entwines 

Our path below ; 
Each sunrise that incarnadines 

The cold, still snow ; 
Thanks for the light of love, that shines 

With brightest earthly glow. 

Thanks for the sickness and the grief 

That none may flee ; 
For loved ones standing now around 

The crystal sea ; 
And for the weariness of heart 

That only rests in thee. 

Thanks for thine own thrice-blessed Word 

And Sabbath rest ; 
Thanks for the hope of glory stored 

In mansions blest ; 
And for the Spirit's comfort poured 

Into the trembling breast. 

Thanks — more than thanks — to Him ascend 
Who died to win 



1 6 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Our life, and every trophy rend 

From death and sin ; 
Till, when the thanks of earth shall end, 

The thanks of heaven begin. 



THANKSGIVING HYMN. 

WILL CARLETON. 

We thank thee, O Father, for all that is bright — 
The gleam of the day and the stars of the night, 
The flowers of our youth and the fruits of our prime, 
And blessings that march down the pathway of time. 

We thank thee, O Father, for all that is drear — 
The sob of the tempest, the flow of the tear; 
For never in blindness, and never in vain, 
Thy mercy permitted a sorrow or pain. 

We thank thee, O Father of all, for the power 
Of aiding each other in life's darkest hour ; 
The generous heart and the bountiful hand, 
And all the soul-help that sad souls understand. 

We thank thee, O Father, for days yet to be — 
For hopes that our future will call us to thee ; 
That all our eternity form, through thy love, 
One Thanksgiving day in the mansions above. 

Religions Telescope. 

THANKFUL THOUGH WEARY. 

PHCEBE CARY. 

O men ! grown sick with toil and care, 
Leave for a while the crowded mart ; 

O women ! sinking with despair, 
Weary of limb and faint of heart, 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 317 

Forget your cares to-day, and come 
As children back to childhood's home ! 

Follow again the winding rills ; 

Go to the places where you went 
When, climbing up the summer hills, 

In their green lap you sat content, 
And softly leaned your head to rest 
On nature's calm and peaceful breast. 

Walk through the sear and fading wood, 

So lightly trodden by your feet 
When all you knew of life was good, 

And all you dreamed of life was sweet ; 
And let fond memory lead you back 
O'er youthful love's enchanted track. 

Taste the ripe fruits of orchard-boughs ; 

Drink from the mossy well once more ; 
Breathe fragrance from the crowded mows, 

With fresh, sweet clover running o'er ; 
And count the treasures at your feet, 
Of silver rye and golden wheat. 

Go sit beside the hearth again, 

Whose circle once was glad and gay ; 

And if from out the precious chain 

Some shining links have dropped away, 

Then guard with tenderer heart and hand 

The remnant of your household band. 

Draw near the board with plenty spread, 

And if in the accustomed place 
You see the father's reverend head, 

Or mother's patient, loving face, 
Whate'er your life may have of ill, 
Thank God that these are left you still. 



31 8 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

And though where home hath been you stand 

To-day in alien loneliness ; 
Though you may clasp no mother's hand, 

And claim no sister's tender kiss ; 
Though, with no friend or lover nigh, 
The past is all your company — 

Thank God for friends your life has known, 
For every dear, departed day — 

The blessed past is safe alone ; 

God gives, but does not take away ; 

He only safely keeps above 

For us the treasure that we love. 



A THANKSGIVING HYMN. 

REV. WILLIAM KETHE (1561). 

All people that on earth do dwell, 
Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice ; 

Him serve with fear, his praise forth tell, 
Come ye before him and rejoice. 

The Lord ye know is God indeed ; 

Without our aid he did us make ; 
We are his flock, he doth us feed, 

And for his sheep he doth us take. 

Oh, enter then his gates with praise, 
Approach with joy his courts unto ; 

Praise, laud, and bless his name always, 
For it is seemly so to do. 

For why ? The Lord our God is good ; 

His mercy is forever sure ; 
His truth at all times firmly stood, 

And shall from age to age endure. 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 319 

THE BLESSING FROM THE SKIES. 

MARGARET E. SANGSTER. 

When barn and byre are safe, 

When flocks are in the fold, 
When far and near the burdened fields 

Have bowed 'neath harvest's gold, 
When clusters rich have drooped 

From many a blushing vine, 
And genial orchards, wide and fair, 

Have owned the touch divine, 
Then up from grateful hearts 

Should joyful praise arise 
To Him who gives the waiting earth 

The blessing of the skies. 

When round the mother's knee 

The little children cling, 
When night and morn the household eaves 

With merry voices ring, 
When not a sunny head 

Is missing from the throng, 
When not a silver note is dropped 

From out the daily song, 
Then up from thankful hearts 

Should fervent praise arise 
To Him who fills the happy home 

With blessings from the skies. 

When round the white-haired man, 

Serene in stately age, 
The children's children troop to crown 

His lengthened pilgrimage, 
When through translucent air 

The gentle matron sees 



320 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

How love and peace have followed her 
While striving God to please, 

Then up from reverent hearts 
Should psalms of praise arise 

To Him who keeps his promises 
In blessing from the skies. 

Come pleasure's tide at flood, 

Come loss and grief and pain, 
Come death and parting — God is good ; 

So lift we up the strain 
Of thanks to Him who keeps 

His own in storm and calm, 
And who with dearth or wound or cross 

Ay sends a healing balm. 
This day should therefore bear 

Thanksgivings to the Wise, 
The True, the Kind, the Father dear, 

Who rules us from the skies. 



THE THANKSGIVING OF THE FATHERS. 

To recall the circumstances of the first day of thanksgiving 
may serve to remind us of how much more we have to be thank- 
ful for than had those early Pilgrims. History tells us that of 
the one hundred and two emigrants that landed on the bleak 
and rocky coast of Cape Cod Bay in the winter of 1620, almost 
half died before the following winter fairly set in. To-day, 
in our comfortable country and city homes, we cannot even 
imagine the sufferings of the survivors, both from destitu- 
tion and the inclement weather, which they were not prepared, 
either as to clothes or habitations, to brave. The most of the 
brave people were not inured to hardships ; among them were 
delicately nurtured men and women. 

They staked and laid out two rows of huts for the nineteen 



THANKSGIl 1XG SER I VCB. 3 2 1 

families that composed the colony; but within the first year 
they had to make seven times more graves for the dead than 
houses for the living. Notwithstanding all their trials and 
hardships, these brave founders of a great and glorious race 
had so much to be thankful for that they had to appoint " an 
especial day on which to give especial thanks for all their 
mercies." 

So they agreed among themselves that, since their prudence 
and forethought had been so wonderfully blessed of God, they 
would send out four men hunting, that they might rejoice to- 
gether in a special manner after the fruit of their labors had 
been gathered. According to the historian, barley and Indian 
corn were their only crops ; the "pease were not worth gather- 
ing; for, as we feared, they were too late sown." This was 
under the good Governor Bradford. The four men who went 
hunting brought in as much game as served the company for 
a week. The recreations of the day consisted of the exercise 
of their arms, Massasoit, the Indian chief, and ninety of his 
men, coming among them for three days, during which they 
were entertained and feasted by the colonists, the Indians kill- 
ing and bringing to the feast five deer. This was in 162 1, 
and was the beginning of Thanksgiving day in America. 

American Agriculturist. 



THE FIRST THANKSGIVING. 

When our young people sit down to the Thanksgiving 
dinner, I wonder if they will think of those who ate the first 
Thanksgiving dinner in this country? History tells us that 
during the summer following the arrival of the colonists all the 
supply of food was exhausted ; the first harvest planted in the 
New World was still far from ripe, and the leader one day 
awoke to the grim fact that there remained but one pint of corn 
in all the settlement. A sad outlook — most certainly a hungry 
one — was this. However, from the seven little log huts nestled 



32 2 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

near the shore the people were summoned together, and the 
slender stock of provisions impartially divided among them, 
five kernels being the share of each man, woman, and child. 
What faith they must have had, and what courage, to keep 
up heart with only five kernels of corn, and not knowing 
where a bit was to come from on the morrow! Nor did it 
come ; and three or four months passed away before they 
again tasted either corn or bread, being forced to live on 
shell-fish, berries, ground-nuts, and acorns. 

But at length there was a good crop, notwithstanding drought 
and late sowing. " The corn yielded w r ell, and the barley was 
good." Then Governor Bradford sent out four skilled sports- 
men in quest of fowls, that they might " after a special manner " 
rejoice together. They brought back venison, wild birds, wild 
turkeys ; and there in the wilderness the first Thanksgiving 
turkey was roasted and eaten. Then they feasted for three 
days, and invited King Massasoit and ninety Indian warriors 
to be their guests. 

In 1820 the town of Plymouth celebrated the bicentennial 
of that historic fact. At the plate of each guest were five 
grams of parched corn. This was the reminder of those heroic 
men and women who dared famine and slaughter for their 
principles ; who first won plenty from the uncultivated soil, 
and yet who were often in sore need of a bit of bread. 

We do not feel grateful as we ought to those who did the 
pioneering of our country. We live in comfort and peace ; we 
do not go to sleep at night fearing that Indians will come and 
burn our houses, scalp us, and, worse, take us prisoners. We 
have plenty of good food, warm clothing, educational advan- 
tages, rapid transit, and the best of religious influences. How 
very thankful and good we ought to be! When we are enjoy- 
ing our Thanksgiving feast let us remember the brave souls 
who broke ground and laid the corner-stone of our great 
prosperity. Evangelist. 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 323 



AN OLD COLONIAL THANKSGIVING. 

The following quaint account of an old colonial Thanksgiv- 
ing church service and dinner is published by Geoffrey Willis- 
ton Christine, from a letter written in the year 1 7 14 by the Rev. 
Lawrence Conant, of the Old South parish in Danvers, Mass., 
and still preserved as a most precious family heirloom : 

" Ye governor was in ye house and her majesty's commis- 
sioners of ye customs, and they sat together in a high seat by 
ye pulpit stairs. Ye governor appears very devout and atten- 
tive, although he favors Episcopacy and tolerates ye Quakers 
and Baptists. He was dressed in a black-velvet coat bordered 
with gold lace, and buff breeches with gold buckles at ye knees, 
and white-silk stockings. There was a disturbance in ye gal- 
leries, where it was filled with divers negroes, mulattoes, and 
Indians; and a negro called Pomp Shorter, belonging to 
Mr. Gardner, was called forth and put in ye broad aisle, 
where he was reproved with great carefulness and solemnity. 
He was then put in ye deacons' seat, between two deacons, in 
view of ye whole congregation ; but ye sexton was ordered by 
Mr. Prescott to take him out, because of his levity and strange 
contortion of countenance (giving grave scandal to ye grave 
deacons), and put him in ye lobby under ye stairs. Some 
children and a mulatto woman were reprimanded for laughing 
at Pomp Shorter. 

"When ye services at ye meeting-house were ended ye 
council and other dignitaries were entertained at ye house of 
Mr. Epes, on ye hill near by, and we had a bountiful Thanks- 
giving dinner, with bear's meat and venison, the last of which 
was a fine buck shot in ye woods near by. Ye bear was killed 
in Lynn woods, near Reading. After ye blessing was craved 
by Mr. Garrish of Wrentham, word came that ye buck was 
shot on ye Lord's day by Pequot, an Indian, who came to 
Mr. Epes with a lye in his mouth like Ananias of old. Ye 
council thereupon refused to eat ye venison, but it was after- 



324 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

ward agreed that Pequot should receive forty stripes save one 
for lyeing and profaning ye Lord's day, restore Mr. Epes ye 
cost of ye deer ; and considering this a just and righteous sen- 
tence on ye sinful heathen, and that a blessing had been craved 
on ye meat, ye council all partook of it but Mr. Shepard, whose 
conscience was tender on ye joint of venison." 



THOUGHTS PERTINENT TO THANKSGIVING 

DAY. 

Noah was the first man of whom there is any account given 
to celebrate a day of thanksgiving ; and his act so pleased the 
Lord that he made a covenant with him declaring that " while 
the earth remainetb, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, 
and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease " 
(Gen. viii. 22). 

Thanksgiving day should remind all of their debt of grati- 
tude to God the Father, who, through the gift of his Son, has 
set up his kingdom of love on earth, declaring his church to be 
a brotherhood. The Apostle Paul well exclaimed, "Thanks 
be unto God for his unspeakable gift." 

Thanksgiving should be devoutly rendered by every Chris- 
tian for the greatly increased opportunities afforded at this time 
for giving the gospel to the heathen. The gates of all tribes, 
kingdoms, empires, and continents are open to welcome the 
heralds of the Prince of Peace. 

" Thanksgiving and the voice of melody, joy and gladness 
shall be found in Zion. The Lord will comfort her waste 
places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her 
waste places like the garden of the Lord" (Isa. li. 3). 

" Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and pro- 
claim and publish the free offerings : for this liketh you, O ye 
children of Israel, saith the Lord God " (Amos iv. 5). 



THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 325 

" In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiv- 
ing let your requests be made known unto God" (Phil. iv. 6). 

Thanksgivings, true and earnest, should be rendered at this 
time by all for peace and plenty, for liberty and union, for 
homes and comfort. 

" Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and 
for his wonderful works to the children of men!" (Ps. cvii. 8). 

" Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and 
make a joyful noise unto him with psalms " (Ps. xcv. 2). 

Thanksgiving day is designed to quicken the pulse of the 
masses in grateful response to God's innumerable mercies. 

" O give thanks unto the Lord ; for he is good ; for his 
mercy endureth forever" (1 Chron. xvi. 34). 

" O give thanks unto the God of heaven : for his mercy en- 
dureth forever" (Ps. cxxxvi. 26). 

God cannot teach you his will perfectly till you cease striv- 
ing to have your own way. 

" O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful 
noise to the Rock of our salvation " (Ps. xcv. 1). 



CHRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 

Historical. — The exact date of our Lord's birth is not known. 
The 25th of December has been doubted by many scholars, but 
no other date has been suggested. January 6th was observed by 
the Eastern churches before the time of Julius, Bishop of Rome, 
A.D. 337-352; but at that time the Eastern churches, though al- 
ways jealous of the assumed authority of Rome, were persuaded 
to change their practice, and adopted the same date as the West- 
ern churches. On this account it is sometimes said that Bishop 
Julius established the date December 25th; but the fact is that 
Western Christians had already long celebrated that date, and it 
seems probable that the Eastern churches were persuaded by rec- 
ords then extant at Rome to accept the date since received by all 
the world. 

The ancient celebration of the "return of the sun," when the 
days begin to lengthen after the winter solstice, and the Roman 
Saturnalia coming at the same season, have given something of 
their character both of general rejoicing and of reveling and li- 
cense to the celebration of Christmas. In northern Europe there 
was an ancient celebration in honor of the god Thor, called " Yule," 
and Christmas came to be called " Yule-tide." The " Yule-log" 
was burned on the Christmas hearth, and the mistletoe of the Brit- 
ish Druids became a Christmas emblem. The Christmas tree 
seems to have originated in Germany, where it was set up in cot- 
tage and castle, in asylums, hospitals, poorhouses, and even in 
prisons. Santa Claus, or St. Nicholas, coming down the chim- 
neys to fill the children's stockings, had his special home in Hol- 
land, though familiar in many countries. 

In southern and Roman Catholic Europe the day is preeminently 
a religious festival, beginning with a midnight mass in the churches. 
The day before is sometimes kept as a fast-day, and at midnight 
there is firing of guns and even cannon, and beating of drums and 
the utmost noise in the streets, until at midnight the people throng 
into the churches and the mass begins. 

England has, perhaps, been most noted for he observance of 
Christmas good cheer. The fire on the hearth blazes with the 
great Yule-log, and the table is loaded with all kinds of viands, 
the boar's head leading in historic notice, perhaps be ca use it might 

329 



33^ THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

be a test to shut out all Jews from the feast, which was crowned 
finally by the famous plum-pudding. In England, too, the time 
is especially a time of home-gathering, of hearty affection, and of 
loving gifts. 

After the Protestant Reformation, religious services on Christmas 
day were still held by Protestants in Germany and England, though 
restraining or doing away with the riotous revelry of former times ; 
but the Puritans of England set their faces against all Christmas 
celebration, and in New England Christmas had no observance in 
early days; and the home-gathering which had distinguished the 
day in England was transferred in New England to Thanksgiving 
day. Christmas, however, was observed in the Middle and South- 
ern United States, and has more and more gained a hold in New 
England ; and its religious observance, formerly confined to Roman 
Catholics and Episcopalians, has secured a place with Christians 
of every name; many having Sunday-school festivals who do not 
have regular services for adults, and almost all decorating the in- 
terior of their churches and chapels with evergreens and flowers; 
while scarcely a Sunday-school fails to have special exercises, with 
music particularly appropriate to the time, often with the exhibi- 
tion of a Christmas tree, and commonly with gifts to scholars and 
teachers. 

Note. — For the reasons for believing that December 25 th is 
nearly if not exactly the true date, see " Life of our Lord," by 
Samuel J. Andrews. 



CHRISTMAS USAGES IN EUROPE. 

Germany. — Christmas is the great German holiday. On 
Christmas eve every family has its tree, and every family its 
own gathering, undisturbed by outsiders. A family reunion is 
held whenever it is possible, and one tree is enjoyed by all on 
Christmas eve ; but each separate family will have its own be- 
sides, whether there are any children or not in the house. On 
Christmas eve the tree is lighted for the first time, but allowed 
to burn only a few minutes ; then every evening of the week 
between Christmas and New- Year it is lighted up again. The 
Weihnachtsmann, or " Christmas-man," plays an important 
part in every German child's imagination, as Santa Claus in 
that of the American child. Shortly before Christmas one will 
hear the nurses on the street tell their young charges to be 
good, or the " Christmas-man " will bring them notf"'ng nice in 



CHRIS TM AS-DAY SERVICE. 331 

his bag. In other parts of the country children wait with awe 
and pleasure for the coming of two important personages — the 
" Christ-child " and the "Knecht Ruprecht." The latter per- 
son questions naughty children, and threatens them with pun- 
ishment, till the " Christ-child's " intercession saves the culprit 
and wins its pardon ; then these two Christmas apparitions lay 
down their burdens of gifts and depart. In some parts of 
Germany the good saint will have a Christmas tree, brilliantly 
illuminated with wax candles, to hang his gifts on ; he is not 
satisfied simply with the stocking in the chimney; and it is 
from this whim of his saintship that the custom has spread into 
other countries and come over to our own. The Christmas 
tree of to-day, however, is only a successor to its prototype, 
the ancient legendary Yggdrasil, or eternal tree, that had its 
roots in earth and its top in heaven. 

Bohemia. — The children listen anxiously on Christmas eve 
for the chariot and white horses of the " Christ-child," as he 
comes flying through the air with his krippe full of presents. 

Italy. — The children go gravely with their parents to 
churches and cathedrals to see the bambino, or baby- Christ, 
who is thought to present them with their Christmas gifts. 

Spain. — The children hide their shoes or slippers in the 
bushes on Christmas eve, and find them filled with fruit and 
sugar-plums on Christmas morning. 

France. — The young people stand their shoes in a conve- 
nient place for the good Noel to drop gifts in ; sometimes, if the 
shoes of a bad boy are among them, he finds a whip in one in 
the morning, and he must be a stupid fellow who cannot take 
so sharp a hint. 

Norway and Sweden. — The Christmas season is called the 
Julefred, or Yule-peace. At Julefred all the courts are closed, 
and every one stops disputing and quarreling ; and if people 
or children are feeling angry with one another, they make it 
up, and are loving and kind, and there is feasting and good- 
humored merriment. On Christmas eve the shoes of all the 
family are cleaned very carefully, and brightly polished, and 



33 2 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION', 

set in a row before the hearthstone, to indicate that during the 
coming year everything will be peaceful and pleasant in the 
family. In the country places almost every family who can 
spreads a table with the good cheer of the season, and then 
the doors are left open so that any one may come in and eat 
and drink and be merry. 

Belgium. — The children fill their shoes with beans and 
carrots on Christmas eve, and set them in the chimney-place 
for the good saint's horse. In the morning they expect to find 
them filled with sweetmeats and fruit in return for their good 
behavior. 

Holland. — The children hang up their woolen stockings 
by the tiled chimney-piece, and then go soberly to bed, quite 
sure that good St. Nicholas will visit them, provided they do 
not disturb him in his visit. Herald and Presbyter. 



THE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS. 

In the little town of Bethlehem, among the hills of Judea, 
in the stable of an inn, an infant was born to a Hebrew mother. 
At his birth the heavens were opened, and choirs of angels sang, 
" Peace on earth, good will toward men." 

In the village of Nazareth, sleeping in a green valley of Gal- 
ilee, the child grew to manhood, living in the house of the car- 
penter Joseph. We know nothing of his infancy ; there is no 
record of those years when parents watch with eagerness the 
first steps, the efforts to speak, the development of intelligence 
in questionings and strange remarks, the beginnings of the soul 
in its new life. Tradition has tried to surround his childhood 
with the halo of miracles, but the effect has been a failure. 
Once during his youth, at the twelfth year, he appeared among 
the learned men of the Jews, astonished all by his knowledge 
and the vigor of his intellect, let fall to a mother's keen appre- 
hension one word which unfolded his own knowledge of the 
object for which he came into the world, and then retired from 



CHRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 333 

public view to the humble trade of Joseph in the obscure town 
of Galilee, to wait for the time of his manifestation. 

We must reverently pass over these years which are hidden, 
and begin to look upon his life when he came forth from ob- 
scurity and announced himself as the world's great Teacher, 
soon to become its suffering Redeemer. We follow him now 
along the shores of Tiberias, over the plains of Sharon, in the 
streets of Jerusalem, and by the waters of the Jordan. In these 
scenes where he passed three brief years of a public ministry 
we see all the manifested life of one who is the most living 
and familiar figure in the history of mankind. So real is the 
portraiture of Jesus Christ in the Gospels, so powerfully did he 
stamp himself upon the disciples who have presented him to 
us, that at the distance of nineteen centuries we seem to see 
the Son of man, to hear his voice, to follow him from place 
to place, to witness his miracles, and to be impressed by the 
authority of a personal presence. He moves through the land 
of Palestine as a man among men ; and yet in all his relations to 
the material universe he acts " like a son in his father's house." 
What, then, was the purpose of his life, and how did he fulfil it? 

He gave a strong hint of this purpose when he said to his 
mother, as a reason for remaining in Jerusalem and disputing 
with the doctors in the temple, "Wist ye not that I must be 
about my Father's business?" And after beginning his public 
ministry, as if to exhibit his commission before those who had 
seen him in boyhood and youth, he unrolled the book of the 
prophet Isaiah and read to the listening crowd : " The Spirit of 
the Lord God is upon me ; because the Lord hath anointed me 
to preach good tidings unto the meek ; he hath sent me to bind 
up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and 
the opening of the prison to them that are bound ; to proclaim 
the acceptable year of the Lord." Such was the inspired and 
comprehensive declaration of the object of Jesus Christ made 
by himself. It is repeated in other language, as when he made 
known his plan to seek and save the lost, to unite in one all 
the children of God, and to establish on earth the kingdom of 



334 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

God. In these utterances there was included the idea of a ren- 
ovated world, of a wandering race restored to their Father's 
home and smile, of humanity regenerated, and the glory of 
God filling new heavens and a new earth. He looked upon 
a world under the dominion of sin, in whose track suffering 
had followed close ; and his heart yearned to break the bonds 
of sin and lift the burden of woe from an oppressed race. As 
his view stretched far down the ages he beheld the losses, ca- 
lamities, desolations, and miseries of mankind, his ear heard the 
groans of many lands and many centuries, and his heart com- 
prehended the bitter meaning of these sights and sounds. Yet 
he did not look with despair upon a ruined world and a lost 
humanity. He knew that the star of Bethlehem had risen as 
the harbinger of dawn, and through the darkness of Calvary 
and the gloom of many generations he beheld the full glory of 
the risen Sun of righteousness. In that blessed day he saw the 
establishment of the kingdom of God, the universal acknow- 
ledgment of " our Father which is in heaven," the hostilities 
of nations ended, the rule of universal love the only law, and a 
restored Eden, with a reconciled Father once more among his 
happy and holy children. To realize this purpose — to change 
humanity, to triumph over evil, and to honor the Father by 
a union never to be broken of the Father and the many sons 
who should be brought unto glory — this was the thought which 
filled the mind of Jesus Christ. This is the meaning of Christ- 
mas ; and as we love God with soul and mind and strength, 
and prove our divine sonship by good will and kindness toward 
all our fellow-men, we shall realize the divine idea of our Mas- 
ter and unite in his blessed work. Observer. 



CHRISTMAS IN DECEMBER. 

JOHN CLIFFORD. 

Why is it that we celebrate the birth of Christ in the last 
days of the last month of the year, when the trees are stripped 
of their leaves, the flowers are buried in the earth, the birds have 



CIIRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 335 

hushed their songs, and the pearled ice and the white snow are 
upon us ? 

Not because we are certain that the wonderful Babe was 
born at Bethlehem on the 25th of December. Most scholars 
think otherwise. Wieseler, Lange, and Ellicott place the birth 
of Mary's Son in February ; Greswell adopts April ; Lightfoot 
selects September; Lichtenstein halts between July and De- 
cember; Clement of Alexandria speaks of the 20th of May; 
and the church of the primitive times, like that of this day, 
had no certainty as to the precise date of the first unfolding of 
our world's marvelous Life. 

But " the Life was manifested," and men saw it with their 
eyes, and handled it with their hands, and bore witness to that 
" eternal Life which was with the Father, and was manifested 
unto us." The fact is indubitable, though the date is uncer- 
tain. The Man is more than the almanac ; the Life itself is 
everything ; the registrar's record is a " trifle light as air." 

Still the curious question returns : Why is our great incarna- 
tion festival held in the closing hours of the year, and at the 
moment when we stand on the threshold of a period of new 
time ? No doubt such a festival would be in perfect harmony 
with any season of the whole round year. The life and work 
of Christ are so many-sided that there is not a month or a sea- 
son whose moral analogies and spiritual forces would not re- 
ceive a higher significance and a larger power from contact 
with his all-interpreting and all-transfiguring career. The 
dawning brightness and measureless promise of the jocund 
spring, the splendid radiance and abounding vital energy of 
the beaming summer-time, and the glorious fruitage of autumn 
days all find their spiritual parallels in Him who is still the chief 
hope of men, the spring-tide of all souls, the full-orbed Sun of 
righteousness, and the perfect flower and fruit of humanity. 

For us, however, in these northern climes, and with our 
traditions and associations, Christmas could not well be better 
placed than where it is. Nature is in slumber, as if in death — 
fit picture of the sleep of man till roused to righteousness by 



33 6 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

the voice of the new-born Babe of Bethlehem. Life is at its 
lowest, and death reigns, or seems to reign, everywhere. Sav- 
ing the thick-berried holly, the mistletoe, dear to Druid priests, 
the laurel, and the yew, the trees are bared, and the warblers 
of the sky avoid their desolate branches. We are driven in- 
ward. The fireside is the center of a thousand charms. Home 
is clothed in its most beautiful garments. We are forced to the 
conclusion that we need other help than Mother Earth can give 
us. Our hearts open instinctively to heaven and its message, 
and with willing feet we haste to do the will of Him " who, 
though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor." The 
"worship of Christ" by the repetition of his helpful and 
brotherly deeds, seasonable at all times, is never more so than 
at Christmas. We crave companionship, give free course to 
sympathy, welcome lowly service, and find delight in doing 
others good. We think of the poor and needy, the hungry 
and ill-clad, the suffering and the desolate, and seek to enrich 
their hearts with true human sympathy, and their, homes with 
Christian help. We say to men, " Christ is bom. Hope in 
him. Help is at hand. Grace is bountiful. Despair not, but 
rejoice, for soon shall the winter of want and woe be gone. 
It is meet that we should be merry ; for this our earth was 
dead, and is alive again ; was lost, and is found." 

But are the cold December days utterly without life ? Does 
not the dear Mother Earth hold its forces in her quiet bosom, 
and guard them with loving care till the spring sun has fairly 
risen, and his genial heat descends ? See we not on the bared 
trees the buds of the coming life, all safely inwrapped and in- 
sheathed beyond the reach of the penetrating cold? Yes; 
bleak and bare December has its promise, the fierce winter 
has its prophecies of life. Humanity is not so utterly damaged 
that the skilled hand of Heaven may not reconstruct it. The 
wreckage is not so deplorable that we need despair of its safe 
arrival in the heavenly harbor. Christ is born — born into our 
human life. He has become part of it, and has bound up his 
fortunes with ours. As the new year follows the old, so the 



CHRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 337 

new and better humanity shall follow the old. It is Christmas 
in December ; and the worship of Christ, by breathing a larger 
hope, and bearing ourselves forward with a more victorious 
faith, fits the hour and the need. Men are not forsaken of 
their Maker. God loves us. God wants us, and sends his Son 
in the likeness of sinful flesh, so that we may not be afraid of 
him, but may welcome him, and be saved through him. From 
heaven he comes ; and he will safely pilot the once shattered 
but rebuilt vessel over the stormy seas of human experience, 
until we sing : 

Safe home, safe home in port ! 
Rent cordage, shattered deck, 

Torn sails, provisions short, 
And only not a wreck. 

But oh ! the joy upon the shore 

To tell our voyage and perils o'er. 

We therefore welcome our Christmas in December. The 
" worship of Christ " could not have a better setting than amid 
the domestic festivities, social forces, and generous and man- 
helping deeds of our merry Christmas-tide. In no more fitting 
way can we say farewell to the closing year, and All hail ! 
to the new. " Christ is born." We therefore must put off 
the old man — his moroseness and selfishness, his sadness and 
despair, his peevishness and fretfulness, his feebleness and 
decay — and put on the new man, which, after Christ, is created 
in true joy, large faith, energetic service, lowly duty, devout 
obedience, and death-daring self-sacrifice. 

While, then, we heed the words of Thomas Tusser, who, in 
the days of Queen Elizabeth, sang : 

At Christmas play and make good cheer, 
For Christmas comes but once a year, 

we will so play that work for men in Christ's name and on 
Christ's plan shall be all the sweeter and wholesomer, and so 
both our Christmas and our New-Year be filled with the new 
life of the Son of the Highest. Baptist Magazine. 



33 8 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

A HOLIDAY SERMON. 

D. L. MOODY. 
There was no room for them in the inn. — Luke ii. 7. 

For four thousand years the Jews had been looking for 
Christ, and now he had come ; and the first thing we read of 
him is that there was no room for him in the inn at Bethlehem. 

The sinner's heart is very much like that little inn at Beth- 
lehem : it has no room for Christ. If a prince comes to this 
country from some foreign land there is sure to be room for 
him, and the best you have is not good enough to bestow 
upon him. Yet here is the Prince of Peace come to earth, and 
there is no room for him in the inn at Bethlehem ! 

Think what he came for : he came to seek and to save that 
which was lost — to redeem a lost world. He might have come 
with all the pomp and grandeur of heaven ; he might have had 
a million of angels in his train. But he left behind him all the 
glory he had with his Father, and stooped from the throne, and 
went clear down into the manger, that he might get his arm 
under the vilest sinner and lift him up to the heights of glory. 

Some one said that the Jews did not know he was the Messiah, 
or they would have given him a glorious reception. Would 
they ? Why, we read that when the wise men came with the 
glad tidings that he was the King of the Jews, " Herod was 
troubled, and all Jerusalem." There was no one in Jerusalem 
that wanted him any more than in Bethlehem. Herod hunted 
for his life as if he were some terrible murderer, so that his 
parents were obliged to flee into a foreign land. 

Is Christ wanted to-day ? If he should come again, would 
he be welcome ? Would the nations of the earth receive him 
with delight and gladness ? What nation would make room for 
him to-day ? If it were put to the public vote, what nation 
would vote to have him come back to be their King ? Talk 
about England and America being Christian nations : do you 



CHRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 339 

think either of them would invite him to come ? Has America 
got room for him ? Eighteen hundred years have rolled by 
since he went away, and more has been written about him 
and said about him than any other man, or thousand men, or 
million men, and yet there is no nation under heaven that 
wants him. When he was down here there was not a village 
in any part of the country that wanted him. He went to 
Nazareth, where he was brought up ; he went into the syna- 
gogue and began to tell out the glad tidings. They took him 
to the brow of the hill, and would have cast him into hell if 
they could. They put him out of the town. And there is not 
a village under the sun to-day but would do the same. People 
say the world is growing so much better ; but, as I have said, 
there is not a nation anywhere to-day that wants him. Does 
Germany or France or England or America ? 

Not only that ; there is something a good deal worse than 
that. There is hardly a church in Christendom that wants him. 
Go to any of the churches next Sunday, and ask if they would 
vote to have him come back. Why, my friends, the church 
has not got room for him. She is not praying and longing 
for his return. Go down to the Exchange and ask if they 
have got room for him. Why, a good deal of the business 
would have to be done on different principles. Men would 
say, " We cannot quite make so much money, and we don't 
want him." If it should be put to vote in Congress, would they 
have him back ? Is there room for him among our statesmen 
and those who are making our laws ? Would they invite him 
back ? Why, there would be a great commotion among the 
nations of the earth if he were to come. The fact is that there 
is no room for him in the world yet. Our homes, our churches, 
the nations of the earth, are like the little inn at Bethlehem. 
There is room for everything else, but in the church and the 
world to-day there is " no room for him." It is one thing to 
talk about Christ and salvation, but when we come to talk 
about the return of a personal Christ, is there a church that is 
crying for him ? 



34° THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

It is time for every true child of God to wake out of his 
sleep, to trim his lamp and make ready for the return of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. If nations of the world, if the churches 
are not longing for his return, let us as individuals make room 
for him. Look at the hundreds and thousands hastening down 
to death and ruin ! Let us invite our rejected King back to 
this world. Do not let us act like the men of Decapolis, who, 
when Christ snapped the fetters from the poor demoniac, came 
to him and with one accord constrained him to depart out of 
their coasts. There was no room for him in Decapolis. 

There is a passage in the seventh chapter of John, last verse, 
that is very touching. It has often brought the tears to my 
eyes : " And every man went unto his own house." Then 
we read in the opening words of the eighth chapter (the two 
chapters should not be divided — they are really one) : "Jesus 
went unto the Mount of Olives." There was no room for him 
in Jerusalem that night; no one wanted him. He had no 
house of his own to which he could go. "The foxes have 
holes, and the birds of the air have nests ; but the Son of man 
hath not where to lay his head." 

O friends, think of the Prince of glory coming down into 
this world and having no place to lay his head — no one to 
receive him ! He had to go unto the Mount of Olives and 
spend the night there alone. I have often thought that I 
would like to have had a house in Jerusalem that night, and 
to have invited him there. But if I had, I suppose my door 
would have been locked against him like the rest. There is 
one thing we can all do : our hearts can receive him, and that 
will please him best of all. 

What a blessing Martha got by receiving him into her 
house ! There was one house in Bethany always open to 
him. He was a welcome guest there, and he often went when 
he was tired and weary. They had room for him there, and 
he will always go where there is room for him. The moment 
you make room for him in your hearts he will come in. 

Was it not the best thing Martha and Mary could have 



CHRIS TM. 1 S-/\ I \ ' SER J 'ICE. 34 1 

done to make room for him ? One day sickness came to that 
dwelling, and Lazarus lay on his dying-bed. They had phy- 
sicians, I suppose, from Jerusalem, and the moment they pro- 
nounced him to be in danger they sent a message and told 
Jesus that he was sick. The messenger goes and tells Jesus 
about it, but before he gets there Lazarus is dead. There is 
sorrow that night in Bethany. I can see those two broken- 
hearted sisters weeping over the body. They lay him away in 
the little graveyard at Bethany, and they come back to their 
dark and desolate home. Many of you know how dark a 
home seems when some loved one is gone. Some friends came 
to comfort them ; but what poor comforters they were com- 
pared with Him who was absent! The messenger came back 
and told what Jesus had said, and at last Jesus comes himself. 
Out goes Martha to meet him, and she says, " If thou hadst 
been here, my brother had not died." He calls for Mary, and 
away goes Martha and tells her, "The Master is come, and 
calleth for thee." Is there a Mary here to-day whom the 
Master is calling ? Up rises Mary to meet him, and she too 
says, like Martha, " If thou hadst been here, my brother had 
not died." On that occasion were uttered some of the sub- 
limest words that ever fell from the lips of the Son of God: 
" I am the Resurrection, and the Life : he that believeth in 
me, though he were dead, yet shall he live : and whosoever 
liveth and believeth in me shall never die." 

I can see these two sisters, one on each side of him. They 
tell him about their brother's sickness and his last messages, 
and the Son of God begins to weep. If there is a broken 
heart here to-day Jesus is in full sympathy with you. You 
can have no friend like the Son of God. He has got power 
to help you. They go to the grave, and Jesus bids them take 
away the stone. Martha's faith begins to stagger. Some one 
has said it was a blessed privilege to roll away the stone. It 
is a blessed privilege to do anything the Master tells us to do. 
With a word the Son of God calls him up — " Lazarus, come 
forth." The moment Lazarus heard his voice he knew it, and 



34 2 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

forth he came out of the sepulcher. Look at him as he goes 
back to the house, arm in arm with the Son of God. How- 
astonished the people must have been ; they must have gone 
mad almost with excitement ! Look into that little home ; 
there is Jesus at the table, and Lazarus ; Martha still serves, 
and Mary looks on in wonder. 

Sinner, was it not the best thing Martha could have done to 
make room for Christ ? You do not know how near death is. 
The best thing you can do is to receive the Resurrection and 
the Life into your home and your heart. If the nations, if the 
professing church won't have him, let us welcome him into our 
hearts. Say this minute, " Welcome — thrice welcome — Son 
of God, into this heart of mine." He will come. What does 
he say ? Hark ! " Behold, I stand at the door, and knock : 
if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in 
to Him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Does your 
heart throb ? Do you hear the still small voice whispering to 
you to let him in ? That is Jesus ; he wants to come into your 
heart to-day. Sinner, receive him. Then let death come ; you 
can shout over death and hell and the grave. He holds the 
key of death, and it has no power over you. May God help 
you to make room for Christ ! You make room for him, and 
he will make room for you up yonder. He will come back by 
and by, and receive his own out of this dark world into that 
home he has gone to prepare. " As many as received him, to 
them gave he power to become the sons of God." 

Did you ever have a period in your life when you felt as if 
no one wanted you ? I had that experience for about two 
days, and it nearly broke my heart. I wanted to die. It was 
a terrible thought that no one wanted me. I was a stranger 
in a strange city, looking for work. I went from place to 
place, and got only a gruff answer — "No, sir;" "No, sir." 
No one wanted me. It seemed as if the Son of God must 
have had something of that feeling down here. No one 
wanted him ! The world did not want him ; it took him and 
put him to death. If he should come here and go from one 



CHRIS TMA S-DA \ ' SRR I 'ICE. 343 

to another, would you say, " No, Jesus, I do not want you ; 
go thy way this time ;" or would you open your heart and let 
him in ? In one place it speaks of his locks being wet with 
the dews of the night. Oh, may God help every unsaved soul 
to receive the Son of God ! 

He has gone up on high to make room there for us. We 
are told in one place that he looked toward home. I can 
imagine he was homesick. There he was loved by all. O sin- 
ner, won't you have this rejected King ? Won't you do as 
Martha and Mary did — receive him into your heart and home 
this very hour? New York Witness. 



THE TAXING UNDER CYRENIUS. 
A Christmas Meditation. 

DAVID J. BURRELL, D.D. 

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from 
Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing 
was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to 
be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from 
Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, 
which is called Bethlehem, (because he was of the house and lineage of 
David, ) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 
And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished 
that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her first-born son, 
and wrapped him in swaddling-clothes, and laid him in a manger ; because 
there was no room for them in the inn. — Luke ii. 1-7. 

The December winds were sweeping across the hills when 
Joseph and Mary set out about this journey. The distance 
was about eighty miles. The roads, at all times difficult, were 
now almost impassable. Yonder the travelers go — a sturdy 
peasant, staff in hand, leading by the bridle a panniered mule, 
whereon sits the muffled figure of a woman. There were won- 
derful scenes along the way. At the ford of the Kishon they 



344 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

heard again the song of Deborah: "The stars in their courses 
fought against Sisera. The river of Kishon swept them away, 
that ancient river, the Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden 
down strength." And they passed under the shadow of Gilboa, 
where the shields of the mighty were wildly cast away, and 
where David uttered his lament for Saul and Jonathan : " Saul 
and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in 
their death they were not divided : they were swifter than 
eagles, stronger than lions. How are the mighty fallen, and 
the weapons of war perished ! " Still farther on they came to 
the heights of Jezreel, where, if it were at evening, they saw 
the glimmer of the lamps of Gideon's three hundred, and lis- 
tened to the song that was at once a battle-paean and a pro- 
phecy: "Then shall be broken the staff of the oppressor, as 
in the day of Midian. For every battle of the warrior is with 
confused noise, and garments rolled in blood ; but this shall be 
with burning of fire. For unto us a child is born, unto us a 
son is given : and his name shall be called Wonderful, Coun- 
selor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince 
of Peace." It was probably the fourth day when they came 
in sight of Bethlehem, and passed the fields where Ruth had 
followed after the reapers, and the pastures where David had 
watched his flocks. Here at the gate was the well for which 
the exiled king had longed when he was hunted like a par- 
tridge among the mountains, saying, " Oh for a drink of the 
water of the well beside the gate of Bethlehem ! " They 
entered, and betook themselves to the inn. But there was no 
room for them, so many of their countrymen having come to 
Bethlehem upon a like errand with themselves. They found 
shelter in a stable near by. There in the night the great 
mystery of life was enacted. The Prince was born, not in a 
chamber hung with purple tapestries, but in a humble stall. 
There was no ringing of bells, no crying of heralds to wel- 
come Immanuel ; the fierce winds howled without, and earth 
was all unconscious of the coming of the Mighty One. 

It was meet that this event should occur just then. The 



CHRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 345 

taxing under Cyrenius marked the fullness of time. It had 
been prophesied that " the scepter should not depart from 
Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh 
come." The enrolment of Israel under the Roman authority- 
gave token of the final departure of all national power from 
Israel. The throne of David trembled, the scepter fell ; then 
Shiloh came. The taxing here referred to — literally an enrol- 
ment or census — has occasioned much controversy. It has 
been said that Luke was all at sea in his chronology ; that a 
census of this character was indeed taken under Cyrenius, but 
that he was governor of the province ten years after the birth 
of Jesus. It has been conclusively shown, however, by com- 
parison with secular annals, that Cyrenius was twice governor, 
and that it was during his first administration that he began 
the taking of this census, which was interrupted by the opposi- 
tion of the Jews. Thus Scripture vindicates itself. The Bible 
is a true book. The heavens shall be rolled together like a 
scroll, and the earth shall be consumed with fervent heat ; but 
the Word of the Lord endureth forever. The opposition of 
hostile critics has merely served to confirm it. 

All things in the divine economy come to pass in the full- 
ness of time. The first child that ever was born on earth was 
welcomed with the cry, " I have gotten a man from the Lord ! " 
A better rendering of these words seems to be, " I have gotten 
a man, Jehovah ! " It seems probable that the mother sup- 
posed her child to be that " seed of woman " of whom it had 
been prophesied that he should bruise the serpent's head. She 
thought that already the Christ was come for the deliverance 
of the race from sin. Alas ! like many a fond mother, she was 
yet to see the utter disappointment of her hope. There must 
be four thousand years of waiting, of sin and suffering. A 
great procession of souls marching through the ages lock-step, 
quick-step, into the unbroken night. Men's hearts were to 
fail them, and through weary centuries they would cry, " How 
long, O Lord, how long ? " But God is not slack concerning 
his promises. 



34 6 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Deep in unfathomable mines 

Of never-failing skill, 
He treasures up his bright designs 

And works his wonders still. 

The striking of the hour was marked by this enrolment of 
Cyrenius. All prophecy of the Christ came to its fulfilment 
just then. The Old Testament is a glowing record of Messianic 
prophecy. We open its pages at the protevangel, and mark 
the face of the Christ growing brighter and brighter as we pass 
on : now the dim figure of the seed of woman ; now the royal 
Son of David; a little later we mark his visage, so marred 
more than any man's, defiled with shame and spitting; then 
he sits upon a throne high and lifted up, the Ancient of Days ; 
and in the final foregleam of Malachi he is the Sun of 
righteousness, with healing in his beams. At this last page 
we pause, wondering and afraid. Dare we turn the leaf ? 
Will an awful disappointment meet us ? Can it be that 
through all the centuries we have comforted our hearts with 
a fallacious hope ? With fear and trembling we turn the last 
leaf, and lo ! Immanuel, God with us. 

The timeliness of the birth of Jesus is emphasized by three 
significant facts : 

i. The world had reached its climacteric of sin. It is some- 
times the case that a disease cannot be successfully treated until 
it has " come to a head." It is a curious commentary on the 
utter insufficiency of human culture that the world's sin came 
to its full development in what is called the golden age. 

At Rome, in this golden age of Augustus Caesar, the court 
and people were steeped in luxury and licentiousness. Virgil 
was writing his " Eclogues " ; Horace was singing his " Odes " ; 
Livy was writing his " Annals." What feasts there were ! 
What glorious sports in the amphitheater ! At this time 
Caesar gave an exhibition in which six hundred gladiators 
fought hand to hand; and Pompey, not to be outdone, 
brought five hundred lions into the arena. The women 
counted their divorces by rings upon their fingers. There were 



C//AVS TMA S-DA V SF.R J V( '£. 347 

fashionable dames of the empire who asked for decrees of def- 
amation, that they might mount the stage and exhibit them- 
selves in lascivious dances in honor of the gods. If one would 
gain a just conception of the corruptness of those times, let 
him read the first chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans. 
There is nowhere else in all literature such an indictment 
against the children of men. 

In Greece, Zeuxis and Apelles had frescoed the walls of 
homes and palaces with infinite skill ; and Phidias and Prax- 
iteles had carved statues of such marvelous beauty as to chal- 
lenge the emulation of later art. Philosophy had done its best. 
The very summit of earthly culture had been reached. The 
result may be witnessed in the frescos and inscriptions taken 
from the ruins of Pompeii, in which were presented such ex- 
hibitions of sin and shame as may not even be mentioned in 
these days. When Vesuvius vomited forth her suffocating 
clouds of scoria and ashes upon that city, it was but the just 
expression of the unspeakable wrath of God. 

The disease of the race had reached its culmination now. 
There was no soundness in the body, but from head to foot 
all was wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. The time 
had come for the calling in of the great Physician. If man's 
extremity is God's opportunity, then let him make no more 
tarrying. The whole world is groaning and travailing for 
him. 

2. The world had reached its consummation of want. It had 
been predicted that when the Messiah should come he would 
be " the desire of all nations " ; to that end there must be a 
complete exposure of the weakness of all other plans of deliv- 
erance. This was true at the time of the" advent of Christ. 
The old religions were practically dead ; they had lost all 
power to help or to satisfy the souls of men. 

The religion of the Jews had come to be a system of mere 
form and ceremony. The temple itself was a mere whited 
sepulcher, fair without, but within full of dead men's bones 
and all uncleanness. The religious teachers wore broad phy- 



34 8 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION". 

lacteries and made long prayers on the corners of the streets ; 
but they stood in the doorway of heaven, neither entering in 
themselves nor suffering others to enter in. 

The gods of Rome were impotent. Their altars were for- 
saken. The people had lost all confidence in them. The 
priests, as they passed each other in the sanctuaries, smiled in 
each other's faces at the thought of the impositions which they 
were wont to practise. 

The philosophers of Greece could not help or redeem men. 
By the banks of the Ilissus flourished the Academy and the 
Painted Porch. Platonism was dreaming of the possibility of 
spiritual things ; Stoicism hardening men to endure ill silently ; 
and Epicureanism leading its followers in pursuit of the pres- 
ent good. Of these various forms of philosophy Gibbon says : 
"All the prevailing systems were by the wise regarded as 
equally false, by the statesmen as equally necessary, and by 
the people as equally true." The prevailing skepticism found 
a voice in the bitter word that fell from the lips of Pilate: 
"What is truth?" 

Was there, then, no eye to pity and no arm to save ? Shall 
the people stretch out their hands in vain for help forever ? 
Is God unmindful of their need ? Nay. This is the hour for 
which the centuries have waited. The great Deliverer comes. 
On the Judean hills the angels tell the story in their exultant 
song: " Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Sav- 
iour, which is Christ the Lord. Glory to God in the highest, 
and on earth peace, good will to men." 

3. The fullness of time of the advent of the Messiah is still 
further marked by the fact that the nations had completed their 
contribution to this great event. The titulum which was hanged 
on the neck of Jesus when he bore his cross to Calvary was 
written in three languages — Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. At 
that period these were the tongues spoken by the three great 
nations of the earth. 

The Jews were a chosen people. They had been chosen to 
a specific task, namely, to perpetuate the worship of the one 



CHRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 349 

true God, and to keep the oracles, with their Messianic pro- 
phecies, and pass them down along the coming ages. It w r as 
appropriate that now their sovereignty as a distinct people 
should pass from them, for they had finished their work. 

The Greeks contributed their part in the formulation of a 
language which should serve as a most valuable vehicle for the 
expression of religious truth. It is no accident that the New 
Testament was written in Greek. The philosophic culture of 
that nation had necessitated the forming of a language which 
above all others is adapted to the use of spiritual truth. 

And Rome had conquered the world. The decree of Cyre- 
nius calling for a universal enrolment was an announcement of 
this fact. All nations had passed under the yoke of the great 
empire. The Caesars had built roads in all directions for the 
transporting of their legions to the remotest colonies. These 
roads were to serve for the propagation of the gospel of Christ. 
The king's heart is indeed in the hand of the Lord as the 
rivers of water. Could there be a more convincing proof of 
the divine wisdom than this, that he should so have subsidized 
the Caesars in preparation for the coming of the Prince and for 
the spreading of the gospel of peace that the highways which 
they had built for their victorious armies should be paths for 
those whose feet are beautiful because they bring glad tidings 
of salvation ? 

Thus all things were ready. When the clock struck in 
heaven it was Caesar Augustus that gave the signal here 
below. Then the last of the prophets uttered his voice : " Pre- 
pare ye, prepare ye the way of the coming of God ; for there 
cometh one whose shoes' latchet I am not worthy to unloose. 
Behold the Lamb of God ! " All prophecy is closed, now 
history begins ; the Son of God is here, the joy of the advent 
season is ours. 

When Christ was born of Mary free, 
In Bethlehem, that fair citie, 
Angels sang with mirth and glee, 
"In excehis gloria" 



350 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Blessed be God for his unspeakable gift. We need him. Souls 
desire him as the hart panteth after the water-brooks. He 
came to the world in the fullness of time. He comes at this 
advent season to us. To-day may be for some soul here the 
fullness of time. Let us open the gates and admit him, that 
this Christ may be our Christ forever ; that living with him and 
dying with him, we may also be glorified together with him. 



THE LESSON OF CHRISTMAS DAY. 

REV. HUGH PRICE HUGHES, M.A., LONDON. 

This is the sign unto you ; Ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling- 
clothes, and lying in a manger. — Luke ii. 12. 

We have often seen that sight, but has it ever been a " sign " 
to us, a "sign " in the sense in which St. John was so fond of 
using the word to describe the miracles of our Lord — the sense 
in which surely the word is used here ? A manger, swaddling- 
clothes, a babe ! — and these three constituting a " sign," an ob- 
ject-lesson, a parable in action, a great revelation of truth. 
What did they see ? A manger, swaddling-clothes, a babe ! 
— and each of these three was full of meaning. Consider what 
had just taken place. As a great thinker has well said, " The 
fountains of the great deep had been broken up, empires had 
been lifted off their hinges, all things had begun afresh." 
God, long expected, had come down to earth. Where was 
he ? In a manger. How was he ? In swaddling-clothes. 
What was he ? A babe. 

Consider the first of these facts. He was in a manger — in 
a cattle-trough. What does that mean ? It means that money 
is no remedy for human woe. We have probably never yet 
understood the meaning of the poverty of Jesus Christ. He 
was a man who would be much suspected by the police in any 
civilized country, because he had no home. During the greater 



CIIRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 35 1 

part of his public ministry he was a vagrant. He would not 
have been on the list of parliamentary voters. He had not 
even the simplest property qualification, and when one wanted 
to follow him he said, " Foxes have holes, and the birds of the 
air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his 
head." How emphatically has he taught us by this fact that 
" a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things 
which he possesseth " ; for clearly, if a man's life did consist 
" in the abundance of the things which he possesses," Christ 
had no " life " at all. 

Jesus Christ, being the child of a poor peasant girl, was at 
his birth laid in a cattle-trough, and all through his public life 
was never so rich as an agricultural laborer in Kent. We are 
very apt in this country to define a successful man as a man 
who has made a great deal of money. From that point of 
view Christ was a very unsuccessful man. When we talk 
about " getting on " we mean getting more money. Christ 
never " got on." How flatly these facts contradict many of 
our current ideas! How they annoy and irritate us! How 
wicked we think it of ministers to say such things in shock- 
ingly plain English ! And yet some have accepted the teach- 
ing not merely of Christ's words, but of Christ's life ; and there 
was one of these, named Paul, who said in one of his letters, 
" I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be 
content." This is a most extraordinary statement ; for Paul 
was often very poor, and often in great pain ; and he was con- 
stantly misunderstood and misrepresented, hated and perse- 
cuted, almost murdered; and yet he was "content." 

Paul also says in the same letter, " I can do all things in 
Christ;" and writing to Timothy, he enforces the same great 
truth : " Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we 
brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry 
nothing out." Yet we say a man dies worth so much. As a 
matter of fact, every man dies an absolute pauper. Paul adds 
that "having food and covering we shall be therewith con- 
tent." He is not unreasonable. He does not say a man ought 



35 2 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

to be content if he has neither food nor covering ; but having 
food and covering, let us be content. 

There is no harm in being rich. Some of the best men who 
have ever lived have been very rich. Christ says it is an ex- 
tremely difficult thing for a rich man to be good ; but it is not 
impossible. I have never known any man who has lost his 
religion by being poor, but I have known many who have lost 
the greater part of it by becoming rich. If you desire to be 
rich you are standing on very perilous ground. If God wills 
that you shall be rich, and you are saved from the love of 
money, rejoice in the opportunity of having in your hands a 
mighty weapon by which you can do great good ; but if you 
desire to be rich you will fall into temptations and snares and 
lusts. " For the love of money is a root of all evil." By the 
love of money many of the rich " have been led astray from the 
faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows." 
Thinking they would secure happiness by securing money, they 
have, on the contrary, become supremely miserable. 

There is one other passage which we must quote as we stand 
by that cattle-trough : " Be ye free from the love of money ; 
content with such things as ye have " (R. V.). Of course you 
cannot be content if you have absolutely nothing; but the 
writer assumes that you have some food and clothing. Why 
should I be content with what I have ? Because He " hath 
said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise for- 
sake thee." In other words, those who trust in God will not 
be tempted to trust in gold. You cannot trust in both. You 
cannot serve God and Mammon. Let us, then, cultivate such 
a real, living trust in God that we shall not trust in uncertain 
riches. This, surely, is the first practical lesson we should draw 
on Christmas day. 

It is an extraordinary thing that one of the great evils of 
society at the present moment is that men try to appear richer 
than they are ; and therefore they furnish their houses far be- 
yond the limits justified by their income, and try to imitate all 
that is done by those higher in the social scale and with a 



CHRIS TMAS-D. 1 Y SER I 'ICE. 353 

larger income. How many men have found themselves in the 
Bankruptcy Court, or have been obliged to leave their wife and 
family penniless, because they kept up appearances in order to 
give an impression in the neighborhood where they resided 
that they were rich ! 

It is a well-known fact that comparatively few rich men 
have done anything noteworthy for the cause of Christ and of 
humanity. Nearly all the benefactors of the human race have 
been poor men. For every rich man who has ever done any- 
thing that has made his name memorable in history there are 
a hundred poor men. Clarkson, for instance, was a very poor 
man — he scarcely knew how to make both ends meet; and 
that noble American, Garrison, was also a very poor man. 
Nobody, however, was quite so poor as Christ. Why, then, 
should we wish to appear rich ? If riches come to us honor- 
ably, without our degrading ourselves into mere money- mak- 
ing machines, let us by all means take them and do good with 
them, scattering gold on every side for the promotion of human 
happiness. If Christ has made you rich, he means you to ex- 
perience the secret of his great saying that " it is more blessed 
to give than to receive." 

Again, while we pray God to deliver us from the desire to 
be rich, let us not, on the other hand, be at all discouraged 
because we were not born with a gold, or even with a silver, 
spoon in our mouth. Do not say that if you had been born 
in a palace, or in a West End mansion, you might have done 
something in the world. Christ was born poor, and was always 
poor ; yet that was no hindrance to his becoming the greatest 
benefactor the human race has ever had. Your poverty is no 
hindrance to the noblest and divinest life, if you are only filled 
with the spirit of Christ. That is the lesson of the manger. 

As to the swaddling-clothes, they teach us that/^;r<? is 710 
remedy ; for they are the very symbol of utter helplessness. 
Christ was born a King, but he was physically helpless. Yet 
he has done more for the human race than all the men who 
have been at the head of armies. No great improvement in 



354 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

human affairs has ever been brought about by war. Of all the 
delusions that ever took possession of the human intellect, the 
greatest and the most disastrous is the notion that war is a 
blessing. There was a cynical old European diplomatist and 
statesman, Metternich, who had a very good saying about 
bayonets. He said you " could do anything with bayonets 
except sit upon them," by which he meant that if you tried 
to buttress any government upon bayonets you would find it 
inconveniently painful and ultimately destructive. Soldiers 
have had very little influence over human affairs, although 
most of your historians have tried to deceive you on that 
point. I suppose at this moment the three human beings who 
have the greatest influence over human affairs are Confucius, 
Buddha, and Jesus. In comparison with these three, what 
were such men as Alexander, Caesar, and Napoleon ? 

We must thoroughly revolutionize the thoughts of men. 
All nations who use the sword shall perish by the sword. 
The peace and prosperity of a nation depend not upon the 
sword, but upon great moral forces. Many persons would like 
to persuade us that the security of London depends upon the 
fact that we have some barracks near, and the Metropolitan 
Police. If there were no other guardians of order and liberty 
than these, London would be in ruins in six hours. If any 
one asked me what were the real securities for law, order, and 
peace in London, I should say the three principal ones were 
these : First, the London City Mission, whose godly agents go 
into every slum and alley, and find out the helpless and op- 
pressed, and speak to them of the unselfish love of God. In 
the second rank I should put the late Cardinal Manning and 
his Sisters of Mercy, who do such blessed work among the des- 
titute Irish poor. In the third rank of the great guardians of 
social security in London I should put General Booth and the 
Salvation Army. If it were not for these three great forces of 
law and order, and others like them, I assure you all our sol- 
diers and policemen would not be able to do much. I make 
no reflection on the army or the police force, but I protest 



CHRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 355 

against the extravagant idea that any amount of physical 
force would secure law and order in the absence of these great 
moral forces of kindness and unselfishness which have their 
foundation in Christ. 

Lastly, just as the manger teaches us that money is no rem- 
edy, and the swaddling-clothes that force is no remedy, the 
babe teaches us that learning is no remedy. The wise men 
came from afar to this unlearned babe. He did not go to 
them. We are, I think, in danger of exaggerating the value 
of learning in our own time. In its right place it is inesti- 
mable, but it is a great mistake to suppose that high culture 
necessarily indicates either security or progress. Is not the 
University of Oxford, for example, the proverbial " champion 
of lost causes " ? Have not both our great universities always 
been on the wrong side at every crisis in the modern history 
of our country ? What is the use of shutting our eyes to these 
facts? The conclusion of the whole matter is found in the 
memorable words of St. Paul when he surveyed the practical 
effect of Greek culture : " The world through its wisdom knew 
not God." 

Bear in mind that I do not disparage learning ; for I en- 
tirely agree with Dr. South that if God can dispense with the 
learning of the wise men he can dispense even better with the 
folly of the fools. In its true place, as the servant of God in 
the promotion of human happiness, Learning is a precious 
treasure ; just as I hold that Gold and Force also are, in their 
right places. But it seems to me that these three things — the 
manger, the swaddling-clothes, and the babe — were intended 
to smite great blows at the cardinal delusions of the human 
race. Why put our trust in money, in force, and in learning ? 
God puts his trust in the innocence of childhood. 

I have no time at present to refer to the positive teaching 
of this great event ; but I would just remind you that when 
Christ wanted a model for his disciples he selected neither a 
rich man nor a mighty man nor a learned man, but a little 
child ; set him in the midst of them, and declared that unless 



35 6 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

they became childlike they could never enter the kingdom of 
heaven. In one sentence, there are three qualities of child- 
hood which must be reproduced in us before we can be of 
great use : humility, simplicity, and trustfulness. That great 
lesson of childhood is most beautifully and profoundly taught 
in a book which has been widely read — " Little Lord Fauntle- 
roy." I wish you could all read it. The moral of the book 
is the wonderful influence which a humble, trustful little grand- 
son, brought up in the democratic air of America, had upon 
his cruel and aged grandfather, an earl of this country, who 
had never before learned the lessons I have named, but who 
was most happily taught them by his little grandson. That 
book strikingly illustrates the declaration of Isaiah that in the 
millennial age of Christ " a little child shall lead them." May 
God grant to you and to me the humility, the simplicity, and 
the trustfulness of childhood ! Methodist Magazine. 



THE ANGELS' SONG. 

P. S. HENSON, D.D. 

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward 
men. — Luke ii. 14. 

There were thousands of angels hovering about Sinai, but 
the only sounds that broke the awful stillness there were 
trumpet-blasts and thunder-peals. Here at the inauguration 
of a better dispensation come the angelic host again, but it is 
with song and shout, solo and chorus — the sweetest and sub- 
limest that ever was heard on earth or in heaven. That song 
is the theme of our present discourse ; and eminently worthy 
of our study is it, for in it are presented the three great phases 
of Christ's incarnation and redemption. 

1 . First of all comes the gloria in excelsis — the glory in the 
highest — by which we are to understand not merely that 

God in the gospel of his Son 

Has all his mightiest works outdone, 



CHRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 3 57 

that this is the highest display of God's glory, but that this dis- 
play is made in the presence of the blest inhabitants of the 
" highest " places in the universe. And seeing how lowly were 
the circumstances of Christ's birth, and how in his ministry he 
was " despised and rejected of men," it is just as well for us to 
consider how all this looks as seen by those who dwell on high. 

The angels had seen God's glory before. They had been 
the wondering witnesses of the glory of creation ; for while the 
morning stars sang together, the sons of God shouted for joy. 
They had seen splendid exhibitions of his wisdom, power, and 
goodness — aye, and the awful glory of his justice also, when, 
from the celestial heights, he hurled the rebel angels in head- 
long ruin down. Here in the incarnation and in the redemp- 
tive work of Jesus Christ there was given to " the principalities 
and powers in heavenly places " such a display of God's wis- 
dom and power and goodness and truth as they had never seen 
before. And in addition to this distincter revelation of those 
attributes of Deity — with which already they were more or less 
familiar — there was the unveiling of an attribute — God's ten- 
der mercy toward the lost — an attribute "hidden from ages 
and from generations," undreamed of till now, but hailed, when 
uncovered, by the acclamations of an admiring and rejoicing 
universe. 

Nor must we forget that in these highest places, even the 
heavenly, were not only the angels, but a multitude of saintly 
souls, who in the midst of the shadows of an earlier dispensa- 
tion had been lured and led by symbol and sacrifice, promise 
and prophecy, and had only dimly apprehended the outlines 
of that marvelous redemptive plan by virtue of which they had 
been admitted into heaven. And now when the fullness of time 
had come, and Christ the Lord was manifest in the flesh, we 
cannot but be absolutely sure that these earth-born inhabitants 
of the heavenly world watched every developing phase of that 
matchless life ; and when redemption's work was done — done 
for them and in their sight — we cannot doubt that they, in 
concert with the angels " in the highest," shouted, " Glory." 



35^ THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

2. But not to the highest places were the glorious effects of 
redemption to be limited. It was to effect a readjustment of 
relations between this world and heaven. 

Man in Eden had unfurled the flag of rebellion, and for four 
thousand years, with puny arm but unmitigated enmity, he had 
been waging an unequal conflict. He was against God and 
God was against him, for he might not surrender to rebels in 
arms. Tremendous judgments had swept the earth — flood, 
fire, famine, pestilence ; all these, like death-dealing batteries, 
had been let loose, and millions of our apostate race had been 
hurled into hell by this tremendous enginery of woe. It looked 
as if God could kill, but could not conquer ; for man defiantly 
lifted his head and dared the Almighty to do his worst, and the 
war went on. 

Nor were the angelic hosts indifferent spectators of this con- 
flict of ages. As between their august Sovereign and his trai- 
torous subjects, there could not be a moment's hesitation as to 
the side on which they should, range themselves. At the be- 
ginning, in the time of man's innocence and loyalty, they had 
lovingly ministered. Now their faces were veiled and their 
swords unsheathed. Earth's ports were blockaded, communi- 
cation suspended; and what little intercourse was still con- 
ducted was, as it were, under flags of truce, as in time of war. 

But now the Prince of Peace has come — he of whom it was 
said that "in his days there shall be abundance of peace." 
Now "mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and 
peace have kissed each other." Now " old things are passed 
away ; behold, all things are become new " ; and " all things 
are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, 
and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation ; to wit, that 
God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." 

True, even after Christ's incarnation — aye, even after his 
resurrection and ascension — the war was to be protracted for 
the stretch of weary centuries ; but just as our Civil War was 
practically ended under the apple-tree at Appomattox Court- 
house, though still in distant fields the skirmishing went on, so 



CHRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 359 

the great question, so long and sadly pending, was substantially, 
solidly, gloriously settled by the incarnation of the Son of God ; 
and so the white flag is unfurled, the siege is raised, heaven 
and earth are at one, peace is declared between them ; and so 
the herald angels sing not only " Glory to God in the highest," 
but, " Peace on earth " — a peace to be achieved by the blood 
of the cross. 

3. Not only in the highest — in heaven — was there glory, as 
the consequence of Christ's incarnation and redemption ; not 
only was there now proclaimed peace between our earth and 
heaven ; but on the earth and among men there was now to 
be inaugurated a reign of good will such as earth and man 
never before had known. For let us ever bear in mind that 
Christianity is not an ethereal, sublimated, theoretical thing, 
that concerns itself only with transcendental conceptions of an- 
other world, but with beneficent hand touches everything per- 
taining to humanity. 

Sin not only shattered the links that bound the race to the 
throne of God, but that bound men to one another. And so the 
very first man born into the world was the cruel murderer of the 
second man born into the world, and that was the sad prologue 
to a history every page of which was to be stained with blood. 

Certain natural affection, embracing little home-circles, did 
indeed survive the fall, else the race had not survived till now ; 
but outside of these narrow limitations, and outside of Chris- 
tianity, man was selfish and Ishmaelitish and churlish and 
cruel, so that the very conception of human brotherhood had 
perished from the earth. And when Christ came to implant 
in human bosoms pure, disinterested Christian charity, he 
brought it as an exotic from heaven, and God had to coin a 
name for it, for there was no word in all the polyglots of earth 
that would properly describe it. The thing itself was a thing 
unknown until the angels heralded it and Jesus brought it. 

Outside of that charmed circle which the cross illumines 
there are utterly wanting the hospitals and asylums and homes 
for the friendless, and all the ten thousand constellated chari- 



360 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION*. 

ties that in Christian lands do bless the days of peace and 
mitigate the savagery of war. 

And yet in those same Christian lands there are to be found 
absurd and godless theorists who hoot at Christians and eulo- 
gize Ben Adhem, who abjure the gospel and chant the praises 
of " Ethical Culture," as if there were any Ben Adhems or any 
ethical culture worthy of the name to be found anywhere on 
the face of the earth except where Christianity has come with 
its thrill of resurrection power. " Christianity did very well," 
they tell us, with an air of lofty patronage, "for a ruder and 
a darker age ; but we do not need its guidance now, for the 
w r orld has got beyond it;" which is quite as preposterous as 
though they said, " The sun will do well enough at six o'clock 
to wake the world from its sleep of the night; but of what 
avail is the sun at high noon, when there is light enough in the 
world without it ? " Let them extinguish the sun at that high 
noon, and they will see how soon there will return " the reign 
of Chaos and old Night." 

It is Christ that gave us the parable of the Good Samaritan, 
and taught the world not only the fatherhood of God, but the 
brotherhood of man. And many that do not know him by a 
personal, experimental knowledge of his love do, nevertheless, 
all unconsciously, walk in the rays of that light which he sheds 
everywhere abroad, and which enlighteneth every man that 
cometh into the world, even as thousands are illumined and 
cheered by the light of the sun even though they lift not their 
eyes to behold his face. 

Christ's coming inaugurated among men a new era of good 
will; and as a consequence thrones are tottering, chains are 
loosening, prison-doors are opening, and practical Christian 
beneficence is flooding the world with sunshine and fills it with 
songs of gladness. No doubt, indeed, that even in our so- 
called Christian churches there is not a little that is hollow and 
heartless, and cold-blooded and selfish ; but it is also undoubt- 
edly and gloriously true that there is evermore and everywhere 
a widening sweep of good will among men, and more and 



CHRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 361 

more of beautiful consecration of substance and service, of 
hearts and lives, to the godlike service of uplifting humanity. 

This is the spirit of Christ ; and unless we have his spirit we 
are none of his. The gloria in exec/sis may be louder in its 
swell, but not sweeter to the ear of heaven, than the softer 
notes of good will among men, as whispered by quiet deeds 
of love among brightened human homes. 

Western Recorder. 



PEACE ON EARTH. 

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. 

" What means this glory round our feet," 

The Magi mused, " more bright than morn ? " 

And voices chanted clear and sweet, 
" To-day the Prince of Peace is born ! " 

" What means this star," the shepherds said, 
" That brightens through the rocky glen ? " 

And angels answering, overhead, 

Sang, " Peace on earth, good will to men !" 

'Tis eighteen hundred years and more 
Since those sweet oracles were dumb ; 

We wait for Him, like them of yore ; 
Alas ! he seems so slow to come ! 

But it was said, in words of gold 

No time or sorrow e'er shall dim, 
That little children might be bold 

In perfect trust to come to him. 

All round our feet shall ever shine 

A light like that the wise men saw, 
If we our loving wills incline 

To that sweet Life which is the Law. 



362 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

So shall we learn to understand 

The simple faith of shepherds then, 

And kindly clasping hand in hand, 

Sing, " Peace on earth, good will to men ! 



CHRISTMAS. 

GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS. 

When Irving was reproached for describing an English 
Christmas which he had never seen, he replied that although 
everything that he had described might not be seen at any 
single house, yet all of it could be seen somewhere in England 
at Christmas. He might have answered, also, that the spirit 
of what he had described was visible everywhere in Christen- 
dom on Christmas da)r. 

Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes 
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, 
The bird of dawning singeth all night long ; 
And then they say, no spirit dares stir abroad ; 
The nights are wholesome ; then no planets strike, 
No fairy takes, no witch hath power to charm, 
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time. 

This is the Christmas sentiment of to-day, as it was of 
Shakespeare's time. It is the most human and kindly of 
seasons, as fully penetrated and irradiated with the feeling of 
human brotherhood, which is the essential spirit of Christian- 
ity, as the month of June with sunshine and the balmy breath 
of roses. Santa Claus coming down the chimney loaded with 
gifts is but the symbol of the gracious influence which at this 
time descends from heaven into every heart. The day dawns 
with a benediction, it passes in holiday happiness, and ends 
in soft and pensive regret. It could not be the most beauti- 
ful of festivals if it were doctrinal or dogmatic or theological 
or local. It is a universal holiday because it is the jubilee of 



CHRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 363 

a universal sentiment, molded only by a new epoch, and subtly 
adapted to newer forms of the old faith. 

Christmas looks out at us from the dim shadow of the groves 
of the Druids, who knew not Christ ; and it is dear to those 
who now renounce the name of Christian. The Christmas 
log, which Herrick exhorts his merrie, merrie boys to bring 
with a noise to the firing, is but the Saxon Yule-log burning 
on the English hearth, and the blazing holiday temples of 
Saturn shine again in the illuminated Christian churches. It 
is the pagan mistletoe under which the Christian youth kisses 
the Christian maid. It is the holly of the old Roman Saturnalia 
which decorates Bracebridge Hall on Christmas eve. The huge 
smoking baron of beef, the flowing oceans of ale, are but the 
survivals of the tremendous eating and drinking of the Scan- 
dinavian Valhalla. 

The Christian and ante-Christian feeling blend in the happy 
season, and the Christian observance mingles at every point 
with the pagan rite. It is not easy to say where the paganism 
ends and the Christianity begins. The carols and the wassail, 
the prayers and the games, the generous hospitality, Hobby- 
horse and the Lord of Misrule, Maid Marian and Santa Claus, 
are a curious medley of the old and the new. As the religious 
thought of all ages and countries, when it reaches a certain 
elevation, flows into an expression which makes the Scriptures 
of the most divergent nations harmonious, the history of this 
happy festival is evidence of the common humanity of the 
earlier and later races ; and the stranger in Bracebridge Hall, 
musing by the glowing hearth on Christmas eve, as he watches 
the romping revelry beneath the glistening berries and listens 
to the waits caroling outside in the moonlight, or as he is 
wakened on Christmas morning by the hushed patter of chil- 
dren's feet in the passage and the shy music of children's 
voices at his door, may well seem to hear a more celestial 
strain, and to catch a deeper meaning in the words, " Before 
Abraham was, I am." 

. . , But it is no longer a superstition of any Scarlet Woman, 



364 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

no longer a festival whose observance implies perilous adher- 
ence to papal or prelatical errors. The purifying spiritual fire, 
historically known as Puritanism, has purged the theological 
and ecclesiastical dross away, and has left the pure gold of 
religious faith and human sympathy. When the neophyte 
asked his confessor what was the central truth of Christianity, 
the old man answered, " Charity." Then he explained that 
charity meant love, and that love meant the spirit of Universal 
fraternity. The almsgiving which is the technical interpreta- 
tion of the word is but a symbol of that giving of the heart 
and soul and life to help others of which the supreme sacrifice 
of Christ is the accepted type. The day that commemorates 
his birth is the festival of humanity, as the inspiring sentiment 
of actual life. The lovely legends of the day ; the stories and 
the songs and the half-fairy lore that gather around it; the 
ancient traditions of dusky woods and mystic rites ; the mag- 
nificence or simplicity of Christian observance, from the pope 
in his triple tiara, borne upon his portative throne in gorgeous 
state to celebrate pontifical high mass at the great altar of St. 
Peter's, to George Herbert humbly kneeling in his rustic church 
at Bemerton, or to the bare service in some missionary chapel 
upon the American frontier; the lighting of Christmas trees 
and hanging up of Christmas stockings, the profuse giving, the 
happy family meetings, the dinner, the game, the dance — they 
are all the natural signs and symbols, the flower and fruit, of 
Christmas. For Christmas is the day of days which declares 
the universal human consciousness that peace on earth comes 
only from good will to men. Harper's Magazine. 



WHAT CHRISTMAS BROUGHT. 

CANON H. P. LIDDON. 

Man needs a perfect ideal — an ideal that shall permanently 
defy criticism ; a sample of what human goodness is in its truth 
and completeness. We are sure that there is such a thing as 



CHRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 365 

this. How else should there be so universal an aspiration to- 
ward that which would upon this hypothesis have no existence 
in fact ? But if the question had been asked at any time or 
place between the death of our first father and the birth of 
Christ, where such an ideal life could be found, what must 
have been the answer ? Over the whole of the ancient world 
we trace the apostolic inscription : " All have sinned, and 
come short of the glory of God." The great characters of 
pagan antiquity in literature are like the beautiful fragments 
of pagan art in our museums : they suggest perfection without 
reaching it. They are always, at the best, mutilated, even when 
there is in them nothing that is positively hideous or degrad- 
ing. The best and the highest fail to satisfy the craving of the 
human conscience for some life that shall show what man was 
meant to be. 

Socrates has been named in our day as a sort of parallel to 
Jesus Christ — as a fearless apostle of truth in an age of unreal- 
ities and superstitions ; but Socrates, not to dwell on graver 
blemishes, has so little of apostolic consistency that after 
spending his life in exposing popular superstitions, he desires 
with his last breath that a cock may be sacrificed to ^Escu- 
lapius. And Cicero was undoubtedly one of the purest and 
noblest characters in the whole public life of ancient Rome — a 
man with great sincerity of purpose to wring perfection out of 
the philosophy which he had at hand ; and yet Cicero's vanity 
is so egregious that at this distance of time it is almost impos- 
sible to read his letters and his speeches without a smile. And 
Seneca has still, as he always has had, his enthusiastic admir- 
ers. His writings no doubt represent one of the best efforts, 
if not the very best effort, of the pagan conscience, even if he 
did not get something from a higher source ; but a subtle vein 
of pride runs through him and spoils everything. Seneca in 
practice is quite a different man from Seneca on paper; he 
is cowardly and avaricious. 

Nor is it otherwise with the saints of Israel. Israel had a 
divine, fixed rule of human life ; it had no perfect, living ideal, 



366 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION". 

Israel's greatest and holiest, whether lawgiver or prophet or 
monarch, had each and all a share of imperfection — Noah, 
Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, Elijah, Hezekiah. It seems 
unfilial, ungrateful, irreverent to insist on the shortcomings of 
the saints; but then Scripture does record them. Each of 
them falls short ; David especially — the man who loved God 
and goodness with an enthusiastic love, the man after God's 
own heart. David is so far from perfect that for us he is 
rather the model of penitence than of saintliness, of recovery 
than of perseverance. These great servants of God were, in 
fact, types of One greater than themselves ; of One who would 
collect in his single person their scattered excellences, while he 
rises above their characteristic failures; of One from whom 
some rays of glory might seem to have fallen, by anticipation, 
upon these great forms among the ancient people, that the 
eyes of men might be trained to gaze upon him when at last 
he came. It is our Lord, and our Lord alone, who satisfies 
this human want of an ideal of goodness. He shows us what 
human goodness was meant to be. He offers us in his life the 
ideal life — the life of man at his best, in his perfection. 



THE STAR OF THE WISE MEN. 

E. BLENCOWE. 

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod 
the king, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, say- 
ing, Where is he that is born King of the Jews ? for we have seen his 
star in the East, and are come to worship him." — Matt. ii. I, 2. 

No sooner was Jesus born than wise men of the Gentiles, 
dwelling in the East, beheld a wonderful star, which gave 
them notice of his birth. 

1. The star appeared to give them notice of the birth of 
Jesus, and to guide them to him. We may think that they 
were singularly favored, and that if we had such a guide to 
lead us to Christ, we could not fail to follow it. But if no 



CHRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 367 

star has been given, our attention has been called to him in 
many and various ways. And yet we have not been like the 
wise men of the East ; for they made no delay, but started at 
once to find the Saviour. They were not hindered by the cost 
or length of the journey, and rested not until they had found 
him whom they sought. What a bright example for us ! 

2. Though the wise men had so plain an intimation from 
heaven, they did not neglect or despise the counsel of men. 
They sought direction from those who were able to instruct 
them. And, following that counsel, they received further help. 

3. Notice the conduct of the wise men when they had 
found the infant Saviour. They worshiped and gave offer- 
ings — " gold, frankincense, and myrrh." Christ asks of us the 
offering of the heart, far more precious to him than gold thrice 
purified in the fire. And the incense he delights in is the pray- 
ers of his saints. He requires that we show our love by keep- 
ing his commandments. Are we bringing to him these accept- 
able offerings ? Preachers' Magazine. 



CHRISTMAS CAROL. 

PHILLIPS BROOKS. 

The earth has grown old with its burden of care, 

But at Christmas it always is young ; 
The heart of the jew r el burns lustrous and fair, 
And its soul, full of music, breaks forth on the air 

When the song of the angels is sung. 

It is coming, Old Earth, it is coming to-night ! 

On the snowflakes which cover thy sod 
The feet of the Christ-child fall gentle and white, 
And the voice of the Christ-child tells out with delight 

That mankind are the children of God. 

On the sad and the lonely, the wretched and poor, 
That voice of the Christ-child shall fall, 



368 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

And to every blind wanderer opens the door 
Of a hope that he dared not to dream of before, 
With a sunshine of welcome for all. 

The feet of the humblest may walk in the field 
Where the feet of the Holiest have trod. 

This, this is the marvel to mortals revealed . 

When the silvery trumpets of Christmas have pealed : 
That mankind are the children of God. 

Religioits Telescope. 



THE BELLS ACROSS THE SNOW. 

FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 

O Christmas, merry Christmas ! 

Is it really come again, 
With its memories and greetings, 

With its jo'y and with its pain ? 
There's a minor in the carol, 

And a shadow in the light, 
And a spray of cypress twining 

With the holly -wreath to-night ; 
And the hush is never broken 

By laughter light and low, 
As we listen in the starlight 

To the "bells across the snow." 

O Christmas, merry Christmas ! 

'Tis not so very long 
Since other voices blended 

In the carol and the song ! 
If we could but hear them singing 

As they are singing now, 
If we could but see the shining 

Of the crown on each dear brow, 



CHRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 369 

There would be no sigh to smother, 

No hidden tear to flow. 
As we listen in the starlight 

To the " bells across the snow." 

O Christmas, merry Christmas ! 

This it nevermore can be ; 
We cannot bring again the days 

Of our unshadowed glee. 
But Christmas, happy Christmas, 

Sweet herald of good will, 
With holy songs of glory, 

Brings holy gladness still ; 
For peace and hope may brighten, 

And patient love may glow, 
As we listen in the starlight 

To the " bells across the snow." 



A BLESSED FACT. 

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is 
Christ the Lord. — Luke ii. 11. 

Where are those who kept Christmas with us long ago ? 
Some are away, divided from us by miles, or things which 
make greater distances still. But there is always hope in 
regard to the living. Estranged friends may be reconciled, 
travelers may come home, the lost may be found. But what 
of those whose faces have faded in death, whose voices are 
silent forever, whose forms we have laid away to take the 
long, long sleep ? The separation seems doubly cruel at 
Christmas-time. If they might only come back one day in 
the year, it would be well ; but no longings bring them ; not 
so much as a message from them have we to comfort us. God 
help us ! if we had not the sure and certain hope of a joyful 
resurrection, how could we bear to see our dear ones die ? 



37° THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

But to put against all this we have the fact of the Saviour's 
birth. He came to cheer us with the tidings of everlasting life ; 
and it is this more than all else that makes our hearts glad. 
The friends whom we loved have not perished, though we saw 
them pass away. They are keeping Christmas in our Father's 
house above ; and after a time the whole family will meet, and 
no one be absent. And so we turn away from the place of 
graves to that wonderful birthplace in Bethlehem, and our 
thoughts can be of bright, young, vigorous life, instead of 
death. The herald angels are singing still, and we hear their 
" Peace on earth, good will to men," once more, as we have 
often done. What can we do but answer back in glad strains : 
" Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given : and the 
government shall be upon his shoulder : and his name shall be 
called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlast- 
ing Father, The Prince of Peace"? It is his presence that 
fills our homes with mirth and song. If he will come again, 
turning life's water into wine, touching our sick that they may 
be healed, cleansing, pardoning, blessing us all — as he will if 
we make room for him — then, indeed, we must be glad. But 
he will ask something of us. Self-sacrifice, love, devotion, 
praise — these are the gold, frankincense, and myrrh that he 
will accept. And yet more does he look for. " Freely ye 
have received, freely give." "The poor you have always 
with you, and whenever you will you may do them good." 
And when out of our plenty we have spared a little, he crowns 
us with his approval : " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto 
one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto 
me." Is not that enough to secure for us a merry Christmas ? 

Christian at Work. 

CHRISTMAS. 

REV. H. G. DENISON. 

It is the duty of Protestants to be more serious in their cele- 
bration of Christmas. We expect the Catholic Church to cele- 



C II RISTM AS-DAY SERVICE, 371 

brate it with an overflow of spectacular pomp ; for it has al- 
ways been her failing to meet and adopt the overwrought display 
of heathen festivals more than half-way. But it is contrary to 
the spirit of Protestantism to adopt and display in the church 
any of the mythology of Romanism. To the evangelical 
churches Christmas is the day on which we celebrate the birth 
of Christ, and Christ should be made the center of all the 
exercises in church or Sabbath-school. But when Santa Claus 
and Kriss Kringle and gnomes and sprites make the whole of 
a bright and lively cantata, full of droll situations, witty dia- 
logues, and charming spectacular display, Christ is crowded 
out, and the Sabbath-school ceases to teach the tender lessons 
of that wonderful birth. If angels tuned their songs wholly 
to the theme of the incarnation, surely, then, the church should, 
at every recurring Christmas, teach the children the wonderful 
story of how and why Christ came to the earth. 

Let Christ and a Christlike spirit be found in all the recita- 
tions and songs and gifts, and soon he will be found in a 
revived church. 

Do the makers of these sensational exercises and cantatas 
realize that they are turning Christ's day into a heathen and 
Roman Catholic festival, and teaching in our very churches 
some very heathenish notions ? 

Let Christmas be a bright and happy day ; but let its bright- 
ness come from the radiance of the star of Bethlehem, and its 
happiness be found in Christ, the sinner's loving Saviour. 



CHRISTMAS SYMPATHY. 

Hark, the herald angels sing 
Glory to the new-born King. 

Almost while we write, the Christmas chimes are vibrating 
on the air, and all over the land the holly and mistletoe, the 
pine and laurel, are being gathered to adorn our homes and 



37 2 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION, 

churches for the glad Christmas-tide. The streets have put on 
a festive appearance, people are hurrying to and fro with box 
and parcel, a pleasant air of mystery pervades the household, 
and everything speaks of that hearty good will and peace that 
comes only with this anniversary. 

Everywhere throughout the world this universal holiday is 
kept, and " Merry Christmas " is rung from lofty cathedral and 
from humble village steeple in every town and hamlet in the land. 

We wish all our friends a happy and merry Christmas ; we 
hope that joy and mirth, good will and peace, may enfold them 
all in their golden atmosphere, and that each heart may be 
touched with the sweet tenderness that comes with the Christ- 
mas-tide. In the midst of our rejoicing we would remember 
those who sit in the shadow of a great sorrow ; in whose homes, 
since the last Christmas chimes rang, are vacant places, and 
in whose hearts a longing 

For the touch of a vanished hand, 
And the sound of a voice that is still. 

With them we sympathize. The same Hand that has sent the 
affliction will gently lead them in green pastures and beside the 
still waters, and the soft shining of the star of Bethlehem will 
illumine even the darkness and shadow. Let us not forget, in 
the midst of our social festivities, the true reason why we cele- 
brate the day ; and, like the shepherds of old, bring gifts to lay 
at the feet of our King, even the gift of loving and thankful 
hearts. 

CHRISTMAS BELLS. 

HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. 

I heard the bells on Christmas day 
Their old familiar carols play, 

And wild and sweet 

The words repeat 
Of peace on earth, good will to men ! 



CHRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 373 

And thought how, as the day had come, 
The belfries of all Christendom 

Had rolled along 

The unbroken song 
Of peace on earth, good will to men ! 

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep : 
" God is not dead, nor doth he sleep ! 

The Wrong shall fail, 

The Right prevail, 
With peace on earth, good will to men ! " 



A HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU! 

FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 

A happy Christmas to you ! 

For the Light of Life is born, 
And his coming is the sunshine 

Of the dark and wintry morn. 
The grandest Orient glow must pale, 
The loveliest Western gleam must fail ; 

But his great light, 

So full, so bright, 
Ariseth for thy heart to-day ; 
His shadow-conquering beams shall never pass 
away. 

A happy Christmas to you ! 

For the Prince of Peace is come, 
And his reign is full of blessings, 

Their very crown and sum. 
No earthly calm can ever last — 
Tis but the lull before the blast ; 



374 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION, 

But his great peace 

Shall still increase, 
In mighty, all-rejoicing sway ; 
His kingdom in thy heart can never pass away. 



CHRISTMAS. 

ROBERT M. OFFORD. 

Ring the bells at Christmas-tide, 

Tell once more the story ; 
Spread the tidings far and wide, 

How the Lord of glory 
Human nature stoops to wear, 
Human sorrow deigns to share, 
Man's transgression comes to bear. 

Sweet the song that seraphs sing, 

Midnight's stillness breaking ; 
Blessed news to man they bring, 

Joy and gladness waking; 
Loud the blessed chorus swell, 
Yet again the story tell, 
God becomes Immanuel. 

Wondrous is that manger scene, 

Might with weakness blending, 
Union God and man between, 

Heaven to earth descending ! 
Lo! the Maker of the skies 
Now a helpless infant lies, 
Lowly born that man may rise. 

Come and worship at yon stall, 

Bend the knee before him ; 
Lo ! this Babe is Lord of all ; 

Shall we not adore him ? 



CHRISTMAS-DAY SERVICE. 375 

Joyous hearts enthrone him King, 
Willing lips his praises sing, 
Grateful hearts your tribute bring ! 

New York Observer. 



CHRISTMAS DAY. 

SUSAN COOLIDGE. 

The Christmas chimes are pealing high 

Beneath the solemn Christmas sky, 

And blowing winds their notes prolong, 

Like echoes from an angel's song; 

" Good will and peace, peace and good will," 

Ring out the carols glad and gay, 
Telling the heavenly message still, 

That Christ the Child was born to-day. 

In lowly hut and palace hall 
Peasant and king keep festival, 
And childhood wears a fairer guise, 
And tenderer shine all mother-eyes ; 
The aged man forgets his years, 

The mirthful heart is doubly gay, 
The sad are cheated of their tears, 

For Christ the Lord was born to-day. 

Wide Awake, 



CLOSING-YEAR SERVICE. 

Historical. — The Jews have a tradition which gives great sa- 
credness to the synagogue services of the last day of their year. 
It is held that if the ritual of that solemn day is faithfully observed 
from the early assembling till the day wears to its close, God will 
hear the prayer of his penitent people, and will wipe out the score 
against them for the whole year past. The day is observed by 
large gatherings — sometimes too large for the synagogues, and 
special halls are sometimes hired for the occasion; and it is an 
impressive sight to see the large numbers of men and boys just 
coming into manhood, standing together with the white tallith 
(scarf) over their shoulders, and earnestly following the service 
with their prayer-books in their hands. One of them, who had 
been educated to be a rabbi, but afterward became a Christian min- 
ister, described to us these solemn services, which in his youth he 
attended every year, and how the earnestness of prayer deepened 
as the day drew toward its close, and in the last hour, and the last 
moments of the hour, the prayer rose into an agonized cry for par- 
don and deliverance. But our friend confessed that often he had 
come away from that solemn service with a painful doubt whether 
his prayer had been heard, and he really forgiven. 

Perhaps something of the feeling which led to this Jewish ob- 
servance has led many Christian churches to hold special services 
for the closing of the year, sometimes called "Watch-night Ser- 
vices," sometimes with the celebration of the communion, and 
often with peculiar solemnity as the clock showed the closing mo- 
ments of the old year; and frequently the last moments have been 
spent in silent and solemn prayer, from which the minister called 
the people to give one another a New Year's greeting and enter with 
gladness into the new time. 



THE DYING YEAR. 

REV. J. M. HUBBERT. 
We spend our years as a tale that is told. — Ps. xc. 9. 

A few hours more, and the Old Year will be in his death- 
shroud, and the bells tolling his requiem. His vision is fast 
fading, his face is growing sharp and thin, and the angels are 



380 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION: 

now on the wing coming to fold his hands, close his eyes, and 
tie up his chin. Under to-morrow's cold and midnight sky 
will they lay him in his grave and write his epitaph. 

Yes, the Year is growing old, 
And his eye is pale and bleared ! 

Death, with frosty hand and cold, 
Plucks the old man by the beard, 
Sorely, sorely ! 

What shall we say of the Dying Year ? 

1. He came the friend of each and all; he was the enemy 
of none. Making his appearance in January, he~\vore an icy 
exterior, but he had a heart as warm as summer, with good 
wishes for all. When he came there was before each of us the 
bright possibility of becoming better, happier, more prosperous 
during his stay with us. We may have had trials ; but, for all 
that, unless the fault has been in us, the Old Year leaves us 
purer and riper for heaven than we were when he came. You 
recollect how he was given a friendly welcome at his coming. 
When the bells were heralding his approach the air was filled 
with happy greetings in his name. Young men and maidens," 
old men and children, gave honors to the "happy, happy New 
Year." He was received as God's messenger. The day of his 
birth was kept as a holiday; evergreen wreaths were at the 
windows, bride and bridegroom exchanged gifts, chimes in tall 
steeples played sweet music, church choirs chanted in glad- 
ness. The doomed prisoner, the invalid, the aged, and those 
narrowly escaped from peril, who had despaired of seeing his 
fair face, but were spared, rejoiced and thanked God that they 
had been permitted to behold his advent. He whom we then 
thus affectionately welcomed now draws the sear mantle of 
age around him, and is ready to die. 

2. He had his virtues. This Old Year was impartial. No 
discrimination knew he between classes or conditions. He 
meted the same number of hours to the man in the hovel and 
the man on the throne. The hour-glass he turned the same 



CLOSIXG-YEAR SERVICE. 381 

number of times for him whose garments were plain and coarse 
and him who wore garments of costliest fabric. Like God 
who sent him, this Old Year was no respecter of persons. He 
showed constant vigilance. No laggard, no loiterer, he. Hav- 
ing been sent to fill a space in Time's calendar, he filled it to 
the full. Sent to mark off so many hours on Time's dial, his 
hand was never slack ; he slept not for a single swing of the 
pendulum. May we keep our vigils as faithfully ! He ful- 
filled his mission. God's plans are deep, and we know little, 
perhaps, as to the mission of any of these passing years, decades, 
centuries, and cycles ; yet we know that each fulfils a purpose 
in the betterment of humanity ; and the Closing Year has served 
well his embassy in bringing the race nearer its final goal. A 
prize, peerless and bright, awaits each of us if we are as true 
to our mission as the Old Year has been to his. Then see 
how calmly he dies. There are no death-struggles. He did 
not come at first as a usurper, not having put his foot across 
the threshold of the palace till the Old Year was in his grave- 
clothes; nor does he now resign his seat reluctantly — he 
stretches his pale, dying hand to welcome his successor, and 
goes hence with no regrets. 

Through woods and mountain-passes 

The winds, like anthems, roll; 
They are chanting solemn masses. 

And the forests utter a moan. 

Then comes, with an awful roar, 

Gathering and sounding on, 
The storm-wind from Labrador. 

But to this convulsion of the elements at his departure there is 
no answer of emotion in the bosom of the Old Year. Peace- 
fully he pillows his head upon the snows of the North, and is 
breathing his last. With equal calmness and submission to 
God may we gather about us the drapery of the dying-couch ! 
3. What has the Old Year witnessed ? He has held the 



382 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

post of observation but three hundred and sixty-five days, and 
yet his portfolio is well filled with the record of what he has 
witnessed. 

(1) The march of national events. Nations have their birth, 
growth, and decay. From its beginning of life to its death a 
nation passes through many and strange vicissitudes. This 
year the busy nations have been running to and fro in the 
earth. The difficulties of fairly adjusting national claims and 
rights are great enough at best, but intrigue, revenge, and am- 
bition help to keep the pot boiling. Crowned heads, prime 
ministers, diplomatists, leaders in senates and parliaments and 
congresses, conceive and cherish secret and iniquitous schemes 
of state and empire which no historian will ever know or re- 
cord. But these secrets are all in the archives of the Dying 
Year, who witnessed and faithfully recorded them all. 

(2) Death's doings. The black flag has been floating. 
Storms have swept sea and land with horror; cyclones have 
torn through forests and fields, cities and villages, destroying 
man and his works, and scarring the face of nature ; hurricanes 
have sent gallant ships staggering to destruction ; explosions, 
fires, panics, railway wrecks and collisions, destructive floods — 
these and similar prominent disasters have swelled the death- 
record. The murder column foots up its thousands ; legal 
executions for crime, executions by mob vengeance, suicides, 
and disease have been doing their work. How many are the 
illustrious dead — warriors, statesmen, diplomatists, artists, celeb- 
rities in medicine and surgery, millionaire merchants, philan- 
thropists, ecclesiastical dignitaries, jurists, engineers, educators, 
journalists ! Nor has Death kept afar. He entered some of 
our homes, and would not go without his victim. Some of 
you will recollect this as the year in which }^ou first began to 
look sorrowfully upon the empty cradle or the vacant chair in 
your home. 

(3) Sorrow. Though you may not have witnessed a death- 
scene in your home, there has yet been sorrow : perhaps bodily 
affliction, making you familiar with the invalid's chair; or 



CLOSING-YEAR SERVICE. 383 

poverty staring you in the face, while the wolfs howl was 
near your door" ; or the ill successes and vexations of business ; 
or loss of property, estrangement of friends, betrayals of con- 
fidence, disappointed hopes, misplaced affection, infelicity of 
domestic life, desertion of love, or some other skeleton in your 
closet. The year has seen new furrows plowed across your 
cheek and forehead, some of the luster depart from your eye, 
the loss of elasticity from your step, a more rapid falling of 
frost upon your head ; the year has seen you growing old 
under your sorrows and cares. 

(4) The world's sins. The great army of eriminals have 
steadily plied their trade in robberies, thefts, burglaries, 
embezzlements, incendiarisms, arsons, man-stealing, perjuries, 
gamblings, and debaucheries. The year's record embraces 
all our immoralities: lies told to drive bargains or to escape 
detection in wrong-doing; slanders uttered to the injury of 
reputation ; Sabbath-breaking — violating the holy day for pur- 
poses of pleasure or profit; profaneness — oaths uttered in 
anger, in anecdote, in jest and humor. There have been sins 
of indolence and intemperance ; sins of tyranny and oppres- 
sion ; sins of covetousness, envy, deceit, and malignity. The 
Closing Year has witnessed all the wickednesses of backbiters, 
haters of God, boasters, the proud, the despiteful, the inventors 
of evil things. 

(5) The growth of Christ's kingdom. When we look at the 
dark side of society we doubt whether the world is growing 
better ; it seems to be getting worse. We doubt not its mate- 
rial progress. The scream of the factory whistle, the rumbling 
of the railway-train, the telegraph, the telephone, ocean cables, 
great bridges, curious inventions — these visible signs of an ad- 
vancing civilization compel observation, and we cannot fail to 
see that the world moves in material progress. But are we 
making advance in grand intellectual and moral achievements ? 
Yes, silent revolutions are working wonders for the uplifting of 
the world in mind and heart. The idea of the brotherhood of 
man is not three centuries old. The idea that society is not a 



3^4 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION 1 . 

state, but a family ; that all men, of all nations and races and 
classes, are but one family, whose Head and Father is God ; 
that all are children of the same household, all equal, each re- 
sponsible for all and all for each — this is a modern idea. The 
ancient world knew no more of it than of the American con- 
tinent; now it is the corner-stone of society. To disregard 
it in legislation would be going back from modern astronomy 
to Chaldean astrology, from the steam-car back to the ox-cart. 
Among other of these modern creative ideas might be named 
that of individual liberty ; of independence in religious belief ; 
of freedom of the press and of public speech ; of the crimi- 
nality of war ; of the inferiority of the military virtues ; of the 
sacredness of human life ; of the murderous character of the 
duel ; of the inhumanity of torture in courts of justice ; of the 
abolition of brutality from the discipline of armies and navies 
and from public schools ; of gentleness in family government ; 
of reform in the criminal code ; of the reformatory character 
of punishment ; of humanity in the treatment of the insane ; 
of the elevation of woman ; of the equal claims of chastity 
upon the sexes ; of the disgrace attached to drinking-usages ; 
of the prohibition of the sale of intoxicating liquors ; of the 
rights of animals to protection from cruelty; of a popular 
literature ; of the subordination of wealth to character ; of the 
superiority of mind to manners in estimating the worth of 
man ; of a more equitable balance of capital and labor ; of 
fixing limits to the accumulation of private property ; of the 
regulation of the use of wealth by principles of benevolence. 
These are some of the ideas which are the lights of the firma- 
ment of modern civilization. The heavens are blazing with 
them. They indicate a world in upward and onward move- 
ment, and the march of the stars is not more certain. And all 
these we owe in their completeness, and in the forms adapted 
to practical affairs, to the religion of Christ. In every age the 
truths which elevate the world have been religious truths, or 
truths born of religious institutions. Through them the church 
is daily lengthening her cords and strengthening her stakes. 



CLOSING-YEAR SERVICE. 3 8 5 

She is reaching out her hands to give the Bible to men ; to 
carry the gospel to every creature ; to supply alms for the poor, 
nursing for the sick, bread for the hungry, instruction for the 
ignorant, comfort for the bereaved, love for the forsaken, relief 
for the oppressed, defense for the innocent, kindness for the 
maltreated, eternal salvation for all. The Old Year has seen 
God's hosts moving forward, and the world making long and 
rapid strides toward the millennium. 

4. This Dying Year will bear witness for or against us at the 
judgment. We sometimes say, "Time dies." Is Time dead ? 
No. The years die, but Time lives. Time will live till the 
judgment, and then " Time shall be no longer." When Time 
ends, eternity begins. The passing years are Time's children, 
which will come from their graves to bear witness in the case 
pending between God and men at the great judgment-seat. 
The years immediately after the creation will come forth to 
bear witness for and against Adam and Cain, Seth and Enos ; 
the years just before the flood, to bear witness in the cases 
of Mahalaleel and Jared and Enoch and Methuselah and 
Lamech ; and the years after the flood will be witnesses in 
the cases of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Gomer, Magog, and 
Javan, Cush, Mizraim, and Canaan, of Elam, Asshur, Ar- 
phaxad. Among the years which shall witness against us will 
be this Dying Year. If it shall be seen that in the year's rec- 
ord are written bright pages concerning us, happy shall we 
be. Pages which tell of toils for Jesus, of earnest prayers, of 
loyalty to God and conscience, of self-denials, of visitation of 
the sick, of sympathy for the distressed, of instruction of the 
ignorant — how many such things has the Old Year written 
for us ? Ah, I fear he has some dark chapters recorded 
for us. 

There are our secret sins. They have not been written 
by human fingers — never will be. He who has kept a daily 
journal may have made confession in general phrases, but 
he has not spread upon the diary his secret sins. But there 
has been a faithful record kept of them. The hand of the 



386 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Old Year is fast growing numb and stiff in death now, and 
his eye is waxing dim; but he has seen all and recorded 
all. His book will be opened yonder, and we shall face the 
account. 

There are our broken vows. When the year came it found 
us making vows, forming new resolves, pledging ourselves by 
promises of a better life. Old vices were to be laid aside. 
Bad habits were to be broken off. A " new leaf " was to be 
turned. We declared to God and to ourselves that we would 
be more pious and useful. Where are our vows ? Have they 
been remembered and kept, or forgotten and broken ? How 
long did they live ? Through the winter ? or were they chilled 
to death in January and February? Did they survive the 
spring and summer ? Were they alive in autumn ? Have 
you kept them about your neck as the monk does his beads ? 
or has the strand been broken and scattered ? The Old Year 
will open his book, and show, on one side, the vows made ; on 
the other, how they were kept. 

There are our neglected opportunities. „ An opportunity is 
a gift from God. It is his open door. During the wars in the 
Netherlands in the sixteenth century, a garrison of Spaniards 
were closely besieged by the Hollanders. The city had been 
completely invested by land and sea, and every effort to suc- 
cor the beleaguered garrison had proved futile, and without 
reinforcement they must soon surrender. The Spaniards fell 
upon a bold design for saving the city. There was a way for 
troops to reach the place by marching across the lowlands, 
which were flooded by the ocean. The water, when the tide 
was out, was nowhere lower than a man's breast, and in places 
higher than the shoulder. The distance was ten miles, and the 
march had to be made within, at most, six hours, or the rising 
tide would overwhelm them forever. Three thousand picked 
troops began their march at midnight, and at daylight they 
had reached dry land ; and just in time to escape with their 
lives, for the rising tide was threatening to engulf them. By 
seizing an opportunity, the indomitable Spaniards had made 



CLOSING-YEAR SERVICE. 387 

the dark and perilous passage through the bottom of the sea, 
and rescued the besieged city. 

There is a tide in the affairs of men, 
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; 
Omitted, all the voyage of their life 
Is bound in shallows and in miseries. 

This is as true in things moral and spiritual as in the con- 
cerns of empire and state. There are opportunities of mind 
and tide ; opportunities of song and sermon, of pen and voice, 
of prayer and counsel. By using our opportunities we could 
have rescued the perishing and saved the lost. By using well 
the opportunities of the year we would have been stronger, 
purer, more like Christ to-day. By failing to use our oppor- 
tunities we have lost many a battle where we might have won 
a brilliant victory. Heaven is gained by using opportunities. 
To fail in this is to miss heaven and gain hell. Oh, I fear that 
the Old Year will leave so many of these dark pages against 
us that we shall have sore need of the pardoning mercy of God. 

But what of the future ? It is God's. Only the present is 
ours. God's goodness may permit us to see the funeral of the 
Old Year and the birth of the New. The New Year is almost 
here. He comes from his far-off home, over the frost-bound 
Arctic wave ; the ice-shod feet of his fleet coursers will soon 
sweep over the Old Year's grave. He too will be the witness 
of the lives we live, the words we speak, the thoughts we think. 
Shall he not witness in us things pure and good, that his record 
concerning us may be one of bright pages and not of dark 
ones ? Lord, " so teach us to number our days, that we may 
apply our hearts unto wisdom." 



THE DYING YEAR. 

The death of the old year is at hand. It is a solemn time : 
solemn to the old man in his easy-chair ; solemn to the toiler 
in the midst of life's labors ; solemn to the youth buoyant and 



3^8 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

full of expectations. Thoughts manifold and various crowd 
thick and fast upon the mind. They come in troops and com- 
panies. Behind us lies the past. Its web is woven. Its facts 
are history. They are as changeless as fate, as ineradicable 
as crimson. The tablets on which their record is inscribed are 
of iron. " The paper tablets thou canst burn ; of the iron leaf 
there is no burning." The past, with its follies and mistakes, 
its neglected opportunities and its misused privileges, is gone 
from us forever. To recall it is as impossible as to change the 
orbit of the world. But if the past lies behind us, before us 
stretches the future. It is an unknown country. Its surface 
has never been explored. No one can tell what fertile valleys 
or what barren plains it may possess. We look forward upon 
it with, expectation, and yet with dread. Who can say what 
seeds lie germinating in the soil of the coming year ? Perhaps 
joy will come. Perhaps fortune will smile. Perhaps hope will 
find its golden fruition. The year may be all song and all sun- 
shine. But the reverse may be true. Sorrow's hand may be 
laid upon us. Affliction's cloud may gather about us. The 
chilly winds of misfortune may cause us to quiver and shake. 
Misfortune may stab us to the heart. O unknown year, who 
can tell what experiences you may bring ! If some of us knew 
what you have in store for us, how our hearts would tremble 
at the prospect ! 

As Christians we have one consolation. Be the year what 
it may, He who has helped us in the past will stand by us in 
the future. His unspeakable goodness will not fail. He will 
overrule all the untried experiences to our good. He will 
shelter us from the storms. He will deliver in times of peril. 
This being true, we can walk forward with calm courage. " All 
things work together for good to them that love God." 



Be what thou wilt, O untried year ! 

God guardeth me, and all I love. 
Shall future days bring peril near ? 

Shall all my hours grief-laden prove? 



CLOSING-YEAR SERVICE, 389 

Or shall my better star's mild ray 

Shine forth, and fortune's gifts o'erflow ! 

Alike to me ! Care, doubt, away ! 
Whate'er is best will God bestow. 

Epworth Herald, 

THE RECORD. 

As we tear off the last leaf of December from our calendar, 
and see it flutter into the waste-basket, we cannot help 
wondering concerning the record we have made during the 
year. 

What have we done since the last January ? What have we 
to show for the three hundred and sixty-five days that have 
been given us ? What books have we read ? what acts of 
beneficence performed ? How many hearts have we glad- 
dened ? How many burdens have we made lighter ? 

It is not a bad plan to keep a running record of what we have 
done from day to day. If we have made a wise improvement 
of the various talents intrusted to us, or tried faithfully to do 
so, in hours of despondency, which come to us all, the record 
of such endeavor may be of cheer and comfort to us ; and if 
we have been careless and remiss it mav stimulate us to greater 
activity in the future. 

We scatter seeds with careless hand, 
And dream we ne'er shall see them more; 
But for a thousand years 
Their fruit appears 
In weeds that mar the land, 
Or healthful store. 

The deeds we do, the words we say 

Into still air they seem to fleet, 
We count them ever past; 
But they shall last- 
In the dread judgment they 
And we shall meet. 



390 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

NEARING THE END. 

DR. HORATIUS BONAR. 

A few more years shall roll, 

A few more seasons come ; 
And we shall be with those that rest, 

Asleep within the tomb. 

A few more storms shall beat 

On this wild rocky shore ; 
And we shall be where tempests cease, 

And surges swell no more. 

A few more struggles here, 

A few more partings o'er, 
A few more toils, a few more tears, 

And we shall weep no more. 

Then, O my Lord, prepare 

My soul for that blest day ; 
Oh, wash me in thy precious blood, 

And take my sins away. 



THE DEPARTING YEAR. 

Happy are we if these last hours of another year find us in 
the enjoyment of genuine Christian experience ! Whatever 
may be the occasions of humiliation on account of our many 
past deficiencies, the knowledge of God's acceptance at the 
present moment encourages us to turn our faces toward the 
unknown future with feelings of joy and hope. For we may 
safely reason that the conscious gift of divine love at any one 
given point in our earthly pilgrimage is the pledge of God's 
continued faithfulness, however dark or winding the remainder 
qI the journey. 



CLOSING-YEAR SERVICE. 39 1 

As the year departs is it not better to dwell upon the tender 
mercies of God than to feed a morbid sense of our unworthi- 
ness ? Personal demerit, on account of sins of omission and 
commission, every one who has a just understanding of himself 
must freely acknowledge. But such acknowledgment, much as 
it becomes us, should only open our eyes to behold the long- 
suffering, the patience, and the tenderness of God. Have we, 
at any period of the year, fallen away from his love ? Have 
opportunities for usefulness come, only to find us indifferent ? 
Have bereaved hearts, well-nigh crushed beneath earthly woe, 
turned to us in vain for sympathy ? Have hungry, starving 
souls surrounded us daily without hearing from our lips a 
single word concerning the bread of life ? Have our own 
steps heavenward been marked at times by unsteadiness, halt- 
ing by the way, seeking forbidden pleasures, turning from, not 
toward, the blissful goal ? Oh, let us rather, in reviewing all 
this, look through our blinding tears and see the goodness of 
the Lord. 

How kind he has been during all these months ! When 
his love has failed to woo us away from sin, how has he per- 
mitted faithful chastening to ensue ! When he knew that we 
needed nothing so much as a deeper knowledge of spiritual 
truth, how the actual withdrawment of his conscious presence 
became to us the signal of our distress and want ! Oh, let us 
recount these mercies, never ceasing to confess our sins, never 
losing sight of his perfect law ; but in the very same moment 
exclaiming, " Oh, how great is thy goodness ! " 

Rejoicing in all that God hath done for us, we will be con- 
ducted across the threshold into the new year with a firmer 
purpose and a braver heart. Great changes await us ? Pos- 
sibly. But gladness " in the Lord " will conquer all. Because 
of this we will go forth to the coming conflict in the strength 
of the Lord God. Christian Advocate, 



39 2 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 



GOD'S FAITHFULNESS VINDICATED BY OUR 
EXPERIENCE. 

FRANKLIN NOBLE, D.D. 

Ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing 
hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake con- 
cerning you ; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed 
thereof. — Josh, xxiii. 14. 

The truth declared in this Scripture is that God 's faithfulness 
is vindicated by maris experience. It seems to suggest three 
common stages in a course of thinking: (1) An early belief in 
the faithfulness of God ; (2) A clouding over of that belief by 
experience of disappointment ; (3) A fuller experience, bring- 
ing reassurance. 

1. The early belief hi God's faithfulness. 

This is not one of the first truths of the natural reason. It 
is, in truth, one of the highest thoughts as to God. If reason- 
ing can reach it, it is only by a long and weary pilgrimage. 

There are some truths in the idea of God that are so essen- 
tial that every one who thinks of God at all concedes them. 
Such a truth is his power: he could not be God without power 
unbounded. Such another is knowledge : God is necessarily 
all-knowing. Perhaps another elementary and essential idea' 
is uprightness. The heathen have, indeed, believed in gods 
without uprightness, and none of us fully conceive the perfect 
uprightness that belongs to the true God ; yet we accept the 
idea inevitably when we once get it, and even thoughtful 
heathen have always rejected degrading conceptions of God, 
though taught them in their youth. And from these simple 
and necessary ideas of God's power and knowledge and just- 
ness we might go on and reason out high conceptions of what 
God must be ; and we might become very sure that God will 
deal justly between man and man, and that he will take all things 
into account without mistake, as well as surely carry out his 



CLOStNG^YEAR SERVICE. 393 

Wise arid just plans. And so a wise and good heathen, like 
Plato or Cicero, might have a high conception of God, and a 
confidence in him that would strengthen his life. 

But Joshua's idea of God's faithfulness is much more than 
this. It is based, indeed, on these elementary ideas of God, 
but it is a direction of these qualities toward particular persons. 
Faithfulness is keeping faith; and we keep faith with those who 
understand or can come to understand what we do. The sun 
does not fail in its rising, but does not thereby lay us under 
any obligation, however its regularity may help and bless us. 
Indeed, the very steadiness of the sun's shining may distress 
and afflict us. The regular laws of business a man may trust : 
" The hand of the diligent maketh rich " — that is a general law 
which a man may trust ; but this law makes no allowance for 
unfortunate competition, or for the failure of men we have 
trusted, or for our own sickness or weariness ; it is impersonal. 
But a man comes home from his work tired and discouraged, 
and finds his wife's greeting not less hearty because he is un- 
fortunate ; and this is faithfulness, which helps him just where 
the impersonal law of business failed him. The personal faith- 
fulness of a true love does not fail ; and God is faithful in 
this high and tender sense. 

This truth, which a high philosophy would hardly have dis- 
covered, is familiar to us because we have Christian education ; 
but our unthinking familiarity with this lofty truth does not 
hold steadfast in the midst of stormy and disquieting doubts. 

2. God's faithfulness is inipugned. 

Confusion arises from applying carelessly God's general 
promises to our private hopes. God has given general 
promises to men, such as the promise of an answer to 
prayer; but these are always conditional on sincere faith or 
actual need or some other thing which men often fail to pre- 
sent; but, finding the promise not fulfilled to them, they 
charge it with unfaithfulness, not thinking that the fault is 
in themselves. 

More commonly, perhaps, we dwell upon our personal hopes 



394 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

and wishes until life seems not worth living without them, and 
we feel as if God must approve and secure them ; and this ex- 
pectation broken, the old confidence in God's faithfulness is 
sorely strained. 

Then sometimes a man of Christian education comes into 
the chill of common unbelief, and he doubts whether God can 
have personal relations with men; and in the moment when 
disappointment strains his faith he begins to ask whether his 
faith was not childish and unreasonable. 

Indeed, this common doubt may come even without any 
stress of failures — perhaps from the inflation of success tempt- 
ing one to think his success due to his own skill rather than 
God's blessing. So some prosperous men, satisfied with the 
course of nature and their own success, have generalized God 
out of existence. 

The vanity of success, equally with the despondency of 
failure, tempts us to forget God, to put him out of all relation 
to our lives ; and his faithfulness becomes to us little more than 
a childish tradition which we have now outgrown. 

3. His faithfulness vindicated by experience. 

Joshua had gone through the common temptations which 
shake a child's confidence. He had. had part in the weary 
desert wanderings. He was an old man when the long wait- 
ing changed into success, and most likely he had had doubts 
and fears like the rest of us. But at last he came back to the 
confidence that his mother taught him in the faithful God of 
Israel. 

It is a beautiful fact that old age often comes back to the 
faith that youth has half rejected. When Joshua had come to 
the end he had no doubts. 

A partial experience of life staggers one's early faith ; a fuller 
experience restores and establishes it. " A little learning is a 
dangerous thing," says the proverb ; but a larger learning brings 
one to the deep and safe sources of truth. A complete experi- 
ence gives a complete knowledge, and such knowledge is safe 
and strong. 



CLOSING-YEAR SERVICE. 395 

Our experience of this year is about complete. We can look 
at it as Joshua looked at the history of Israel. He spoke from 
the fullest experience just before his death. So we have 
climbed up all the steps of the weeks and months of the year 
to this vantage-point ; and we look back, with the backward 
view, which is the more dispassionate and so the more just 
view, and from this vantage-ground we see the year as it 
really is. 

We see that what God has denied us he has denied us 
wisely, justly, and even kindly. This God who promises bless- 
ing to his children counts the upbuilding of their character 
the greatest possible blessing, and he cannot build up charac- 
ter by rewarding folly or sin. His promises by their very love 
are conditioned on our good conduct. To the Israelites God 
said : " If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, 
and do them ; then I will give you rain in due season, . . . and 
the trees of the field shall yield their fruit." 

As we look back over our life we can see the character there 
is in God's dealing with us, calling for, seeking to build up 
character in us. This is what his promises mean. 

And full experience makes us understand ourselves. Mr. 
Froude says : " The Providence which watches over the affairs 
of men works out of their mistakes at times a healthier issue 
than could have been accomplished by the wisest forethought." 

A promise might be fulfilled to the letter, and yet by its un- 
fitness to us be the greatest disappointment to us. One whose 
faithfulness considers 11s personally will not keep a promise 
to the ear and break it to the heart. God's faithfulness all this 
year has considered us personally. 

And so experience leads us better to understand God as a 
faithful God. We look behind the promise to the Promiser ; 
we see his spirit in his words and we see it in his deeds ; and 
we recognize him as one whom we can trust. 

Long Christian experience refuses to be thrust away from 
God by disappointment, but rather draws nearer to him. 
Men sometimes submit to disappointment as an inevitable 



396 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

necessity. The Christian knows that there is no inevitable 
necessity. God is not bound under fate. The Bible does 
not ask us to be resigned to being overwhelmed in the en- 
vironment. Nor does it ask us to suffer permanent loss for 
the gain of others. We may suffer temporary loss for the 
good of others, and should ; but in real and permanent good 
there is enough for all God's children, and he does not need 
to sacrifice one for another. When a loving mother sacrifices 
herself for her children she gives up ease and health and life, 
perhaps ; but still God " withholds no good thing from her," 
for she gains peace and moral strength and eternal life. No 
Christian in his sacrifice need look askance at his fortunate 
brother, as poor Esau, crying, " Hast thou not another bless- 
ing even for me, O my father ? " If some good thing I hoped 
for has not come it is not because God has given it to some 
one else ; it is simply that it was not really one of the good 
things which the Lord spoke concerning me. No man gets be- 
tween me and the blessing God has prepared for me. There 
is no room for envy here. No man can stand in the light of 
my divine blessing. This is the mature wisdom of the old 
man, the judgment of full experience. 

But does it seem as though this wisdom came very late; 
was bought at too great a cost ; came only when it could no 
longer be used ? My friends, the highest wisdom is not 
merely utilitarian. There is a value in coming to think rightly 
of God, even though too late to change much our outward life. 
What I think of God may help me in any time, but has a 
value beyond what I may do with it, in what it does with me. 
If a dying man lives through the night and sees the sun rise 
again, he may not have strength ever to do a day's work 
again, but the morning light may shine into his heart and flood 
him with hopes triumphant over death, and so may be worth 
more to him than all his days of grubbing toil. 

And it is worth all the waiting and weariness of the days 
and nights gone by, if we can at last open our hearts to see 
the light of God, It is worth all we have paid during the 



CLOSING-YEAR SERVICE. 397 

year, if now at its close we understand that God has been car- 
ing for us. 

Looking back over the year, we see that there is not a gen- 
eral promise of the Bible, such as our common feelings natu- 
rally appropriate, that has not been proved true. There is not 
a whispered aspiration of our hearts, however faintly credited 
by our better hopes, to which God has not been faithful and 
more than faithful. The repeated text appeals to every man's 
experience. You all have this witness within you that God 
is true. So said Joshua. So said our Lord Jesus : " Heaven 
and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." 
So say we every one. We each can see enough to see this. 

What, then, does this lead to ? This old year, with all its 
joys and sorrows, with all its work and failure, with its oppor- 
tunities and its sins — God has been in it all ; a faithful God, 
keeping faith with the better nature in each one of us. And 
now we begin to see somewhat more clearly how all things 
have been working together for our good — toward a real and 
effective repentance and reformation, and new consecration of 
purer love and obedience. 



THE DYING YEAR. 

S. V. LEECH, D.D. 

Another year is dying; but its record will endure, 

And my deeds must live forever, whether noble or impure ; 

And the words that I have spoken must survive the fading 

year, 
And the thoughts that I have cherished shall exist and 

reappear. 

Golden blessings God has lavished as the silvery weeks have 

sped, 
And his tender hand has led me as the splendid months have 

fled; 



39 8 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION', 

Like the glittering stars in number did his brilliant gifts 

abound, 
And like ocean in its vastness has his love engirt me round. 

Health has been my constant partner, and the New Year greets 

me hale, 
While more worthy ones about me now have seen life's vigor 

fail; 
And with kind words and fraternal, and with fellowship most 

dear, 
Friends have daily brought their tributes through the brief and 

happy year. 

Home has seemed a bright Elysium, lit with joy's unchanging 

rays, 
And its voices, dear and gladsome, have rung out their happy 

lays; 
Children precious, parents noble, husband, wife, and cherished 

one, 
Have brought bliss and found enjoyment while the year its 

race has run. 

And God's Spirit's cloudless witness has within my heart abode 
Like a diamond in its setting, and its beams have ever glowed ; 
And the peace of God has rested in my soul by man unseen, 
Like the mountain lake that sleepeth, arched with blue and 
rimmed with green. 

If at times has come affliction with its broad and ebon cloud, 
If misfortune or bereavement have my troubled spirit bowed, 
I remember God has written that he chastens those he loves, 
And with discipline of suffering our loyalty he proves. 

As I marshal these bright memories of a cup that runneth o'er, 
As I think of God's long patience, and his love in days of 
yore, 



CLOSING-YEAR SERVICE. 399 

Obligations rise colossal, and with thankfulness I pray 

That my gratitude, like incense, may ascend from day to day. 

And I plead that wrongs committed — trespasses 'gainst men 

and God, 
All transgressions and all evil, all iniquity of word, 
All unrighteousness of action, and all wickedness of thought — 
May be blotted from God's volumes through the grace his 

Son hath brought. 

With unsullied soul, and conscience undefiled and free from 

sin, 
May I see this year expire, and the stainless year begin ; 
Spotless, upright, pure, and holy, may I pass the year to come, 
Fruitful in my Master's service, happy while I yearn for home. 

For there is a home in heaven, where no register of years 
Shall be kept by God's bright angels. In that land that knows 

no tears, 
Summer reigneth in midwinter, and no night-gloom shades the 

sun, 
For the eve is always morning, and the midnight always noon. 



THE OLD-YEAR REVIEW. 

To all, we trust, the year has been fuller of mercies than of 
ills, and that in the review we all may have abundant cause for 
thankfulness. In a condition like ours we must not ask or ex- 
pect too much. From such a temper of mind comes many a 
sad disappointment. When we ask for the reasonable and ex- 
pect what is likely to be realized we shall have fewer sighs of 
regret. We should also remember, if health is ours, that we 
shall be likely to realize our expectations if we give them the 
aid of earnest purpose and effort. God gives us the oppor- 



4°° THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION'. 

tunities of life, and throws upon us the responsibility of using 
them. He also helps those that help themselves. 

Then let us not be discouraged if all has not been realized 
as fully as we anticipated when the year opened. Seed-time 
and harvest-time come and go, but sometimes there is a lapse. 
If from our fault our plan of life has not carried successfully, 
we can now see the cause of our defeat. Wisdom may be 
better than immediate success. Experience is what we all 
most need. It is a good time to look the year over and see 
what has been accomplished. Perhaps our non-success may 
be God's cut-back for greater fruitfulness hereafter. Hope- 
fulness can do wonders in the battle of life. 

In one respect it is for each one of us to say what is to be 
our success. The one Great Hope which has come to all may 
be fully realized. We may have failed to see our opportunity, 
but the fault is ours alone. If the future for us is full of dark- 
ness it is because we have preferred darkness to light. Here 
none of us have ground for complaint. We are absolute ar- 
chitects of our own fortunes, and the house which we build we 
ought not to refuse to live in. It is our own house. Friends, 
what sort of a house have you been building the past year ? 

Vermont Chronicle, 



THE CLOSING DAYS OF THE YEAR. 

We are not of the number of those who make light of old- 
year repentance or New- Year's resolutions. We would be glad 
to have people live so that they need not repent or make reso- 
lutions of amendment. But we have never had the good for- 
tune to become acquainted with any considerable number of 
people to whom repentance and amendment were not ap- 
propriate. We are all human. Those who have had the best 
of intentions have committed many follies and many mistakes, 
and most of them have fallen into some actual sins. 

We are to be grateful for anything that will bring us to 



CLOSING-YEAR SERVICE. 401 

serious reflection and nobler purposes. Some have more 
clearly seen the shining upward way in the dark night of 
bereavement, even as Jacob saw the celestial ladder in the 
solitude of night and of exile, when a stone was his pillow. 
To some a deepened sense of duty and responsibility has come 
in the full sunshine of unwonted. prosperity. To the multitude 
the closing hours of an old year are fraught with solemnity and 
inward questionings. We rejoice that this is so. The spiritual 
life is not a dead level. The mysterious gorges in which the 
soul is brought face to face with God are the best part of the 
highway of holiness. 

"We have only a word or two of counsel to offer : 

1. Realize that you are spirits. Your body is not you any 
more than your winter sack or overcoat is. In summer your 
sealskin sack or heavy overcoat would be a burden. Do not 
be troubled that your body is wearing out and must soon be 
laid aside. There is a heavenly climate where a more ethereal 
raiment for your soul will be provided. 

2. Your good resolutions should be mainly in respect to 
your treatment of others. Holiness that is selfish is no holi- 
ness at all. Have you written to your aged parents as often 
as you should ? Have you made your children happy ? Have 
you weekly and daily aided your pastor and encouraged him ? 
Have you been thoughtful of the comfort of others on street- 
cars and railway-trains ? Have you continually added to life's 
sunshine and diminished its gloominess ? Has your Christian- 
ity been of a sort that would lead men to believe that God is 
good, and not a selfish and tyrannical infinite despot ? Have 
you paid your bills as promptly as you could ? Have you been 
genuine instead of being a sham ? These are some of the ques- 
tions that you should most give heed to now. Love to God 
always manifests itself in love to men. 

3. Faith in God implies that he is in the world to win it to 
himself. The God of hope is to fill us with all joy and peace 
in believing. The world is better than it was a century ago 
or a decade ago. Doubtless it is better, on the whole, than 



402 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

it was a year ago. In our own neighborhood or in our own 
land there may be many things to occasion anxiety ; but Christ 
all the while is winning the world to himself ; and there was 
never before so much gospel light in the world as now ; there 
were never before so many comfortable laboring people ; there 
were never before so many schools and libraries and hospitals 
and churches ; there was never before so much true freedom 
of thought and such enlargement of faith. Let not one or two 
heresy trials make us believe that we are going back to the 
dark ages. Romanism shows some signs of progress that may 
serve to offset the anachronistic medievalism of some great 
Protestant organizations. There are few to-day who believe 
the horrible decrees of Calvinism, and fewer still who preach 
them. The ministers of all the churches are, with few ex- 
ceptions, joyously proclaiming the universal love of God and 
the freedom and fullness of salvation. The church of to-day, 
more than the church of the past, believes in the living God, 
who was revealed in the tenderly loving and infinitely human 
Christ, the Creator of the world and the Redeemer of man- 
kind, who by his thought and by his ever-present Spirit is 
guiding and inspiring the upward movement of humanity. 

Northern Christian Advocate. 



THE PREACHING LEAVES. 

HENRY F. LYTE. 

The leaves, around me falling, 

Are preaching of decay ; 
The hollow winds are calling, 

" Come, pilgrim, come away ! " 
The day, in night declining, 

Says I must, too, decline; 
The year, its life resigning — 

Its lot foreshadows mine. 



CLOSING-YEAR SERVICE. 4°3 

The light my path surrounding, 

The loves to which I cling, 
The hopes within me bounding, 

The joys that round me wing — 
All melt, like stars of even 

Before the morning's ray, 
Pass upward unto heaven, 

And chide at my delay. 

The friends gone there before me 

Are calling from on high ; 
And joyous angels o'er me 

Tempt sweetly to the sky ; 
" Why wait," they say, " and wither 

'Mid scenes of death and sin ? 
Oh, rise to glory hither, 

And find true life begin." 

I hear the invitation, 

And fain would rise and come— 
A sinner, to salvation ; 

An exile, to his home. 
But while I here must linger, 

Thus, thus let all I see 
Point on, with faithful finger, 

To heaven, O Lord, and thee. 



RETROSPECT. 

JOHN NEWTON. 

While with ceaseless course the sun 

Hasted through the former year, 
Many souls their race have run, 

Nevermore to meet us here. 



404 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Fixed in an eternal state, 

They have done with all below ; 

We a little longer wait, 

But how little — none can know. 

As the winged arrow flies 

Speedily the mark to find ; 
As the lightning from the skies 

Darts, and leaves no trace behind- 
Swiftly thus our fleeting days 

Bear us down life's rapid stream. 
Upward, Lord, our spirits raise ; 

All below is but a dream. 

Thanks for mercies past receive ; 

Pardon of our sins renew ; 
Teach us henceforth how to live 

With eternity in view. 
Bless thy Word to young and old ; 

Fill us with a Saviour's love ; 
And when life's short tale is told, 

May we dwell with him above. 



WHAT HAVE WE GAINED IN THE YEAR ? 

REV. J. L. HARRIS. 

The Wise Man asks, " What profit hath a man of all his labor 
which he taketh under the sun ? " We may unhesitatingly an- 
swer, " Much every way." Life has its trials and its losses; 
but offsetting these, it has blessed compensations ; and if we 
have lived the old year aright ; if we have lived not for our- 
selves alone, but in some measure for others — for humanity, 
for Christ — then everything we have done is a gain. 

If we have worked according to the condition which God 



CLOSING-YEAR SERVICE, 405 

has given for our observance, it has brought us gain in some 
way. The e very-day service we have given for God and man 
has returned us a rich equivalent for all the time, strength, and 
energy we put forth for the accomplishment of our aims. The 
service itself, even though the result was not such as we had 
hoped for, has been a profit to us, for God is not unmindful 
of our work and service of love ; nor does he measure our re- 
ward by the apparent success or apparent failure of our efforts. 
He will apportion our profit according to the work done and 
the spirit in which it was performed. The results we are to 
leave with him. 

We have profited by all the labor of our hands, I care not 
how menial it may have been. We have profited by all the 
labor we have performed in our homes, in the office, the shop, 
the store. These have all been legitimate, and have laid a 
blessing on our home altar every night. And what measure- 
less profits have flowed in upon us as a return for our humble 
efforts for the strengthening of the church, the building up of 
God's Zion, the establishment of Christ's kingdom in the earth ! 
Not an effort in this direction has been lost. He has treasured 
them all up, and they will yield a rich return. And our works 
of mercy, of charity, of love — have we ministered to the wants 
of the needy ? Have we helped our brother when he was in 
straitened circumstances ? Have we visited the sick ? Have 
we through the weary vigils of the night watched at the bed- 
side of the sufferer ? Have we spoken words of sympathy to 
the sorrowing, and cast the smile of love and hope on the face 
of the weary and discouraged ones whom we have met ? If 
we have, what peace, what wealth of joy, what riches of grace 
have come to our hearts ! All of these labors, if they have 
been performed with a willing mind and loving heart, have 
given us a greater profit, a richer reward, than all this world 
can give. 

Some of us have personal affliction. God took us down near 
the gates of death, where we saw things and where we saw our- 
selves in the light of eternity. What a wealth of experience 



406 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

came to us from that event ! How near it brought us to God ! 
And some of these sufferers will tell us that the sicknesses of the 
past year have given them the richest spiritual harvest they have 
ever reaped. Oh how our profits foot up ! How great is the 
sum of them ! — more than we can number. 

We have suffered temporal losses; our property has been 
taken from us ; but if we have borne this with a submissive 
spirit, God has placed to our credit above heavenly treasures 
far exceeding in value our earthly losses. We have had trials, 
disappointments, bereavements; the Lord has taken away 
some of our loved ones ; there is an empty crib in the home, 
a vacant chair at the table ; but what a blessed discipline all 
this has been to us ! It has brought us infinite profit. When 
our dear ones pass to the other shore, how our thoughts follow 
them ! how our affections are disengaged from worldly ob- 
jects and centered on heavenly things ! And when our hearts 
have been thus bowed down by the loss of loved ones, has not 
Jesus come nearer to us than ever before ? Have we not, 
since they went away, felt more sensibly his divine presence in 
our home circle and at our family altars ? 

Now if we have thus profited by these things, what an im- 
mense gain has come to us! — a truer submission to God's 
providences, a better understanding of God's Word, a clearer 
knowledge of the truth, more grace in our hearts, more spirit- 
ual life and strength, a deeper sense of God's goodness and 
loving-kindness to us, a heart tenderer, a nature gentler, more 
patience, greater courage, stronger faith, brighter hope, deeper 
love, spiritual illumination, and a nobler conception of life and 
human duty. Can it be possible that all these heavenly min- 
istries and divine teachings have been in vain — brought us no 
profit ? No, this cannot be. They have set us on a higher 
vantage-ground to fight the coming battles of life than we have 
ever before occupied. 

To Israel of old it was said, " Ye shall henceforth return no 
more that way." It is the same with us ; we cannot go back 
and travel the old year over again. 



CLOSING-YEAR SERVICE. 4°7 

At the falling of the walls of the Hypodrome in New York 
a few years ago, by which a number of lives were lost, it is 
said that in the note-book of one of the victims were found 
these remarkable words : " I expect to pass through this life 
but once ; if, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or 
any good thing I can do to my fellow human beings, let me 
do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass 
this way again." What a beautiful motto or rule by which to 
live! Then, since we cannot return this way, will it not be 
wisdom in us to make the present year the most beautiful of 
all the years we have ever lived, fragrant with acts of kindness, 
luminous with deeds of love and mercy ? 

The Rev. Dr. Bonar says : 

Not many lives, but only one, have we ! 
How sacred should that one life ever be— 
Day after day filled up with blessed toil, 
Hour after hour still bringing in new spoilt 

We may, as we look back over the past year, feel dissatisfied 
with ourselves, with our record ; but in some things may we 
not hope that we have done well ? And if so, we have this 
to carry forward with us into the present year, to encourage 
and strengthen us for further duties. Many have done nobly ; 
have been true to duty, true to their convictions, true to truth, 
true to the church, true and loyal to the Master ; and all who 
have this consciousness cannot but enter upon the new year 
with happy hearts. 

We are all voyagers on life's wide ocean. Sometimes the 
sea is calm and tranquil, reflecting on its placid surface the 
beautiful stars as they look down from heaven. Then, again, 
storms arise, the winds are furious, the billows run high and 
threaten to engulf us. With none of us is the voyage wholly 
a smooth one ; but we all, I hope, shall make it safely, gliding 
at last into that quiet haven where tempests never rise. Some 
of us have already made more than half the voyage. By faith 
we can discern the distant hills. Our vision catches the rising 



4-o8 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

headlands, and the lights are burning along the shore. How 
delightful it will be when we who have voyaged together shall 
meet on that beautiful shore ! 

Rev. Dr. Talmage, in one of his sermons, says: "An old 
writer tells us of a ship coming from India to France. The 
crew was made up of French sailors who had been long from 
home — years gone from their families ; and as the ship came 
along by the coast of France the men became uncontrollable. 
They skipped the deck in wildest glee, and pointed to the 
spires of the churches where they once worshiped, to the hills 
where they had played in boyhood. But when the ship came 
into port, and these sailors saw father and mother, and wife 
and loved ones on the wharf, and heard them call them by 
their names, they sprang ashore and rushed up the banks into 
the city, leaving the captain to get another crew to bring the 
ship to her moorings. Thus heaven, our fatherland, will after 
a while be so fully in sight that we can see its towers, its many 
mansions. And as we go into port, and our loved ones shall 
call from that shining shore and speak our names, we will 
spring to the beach, leaving this old ship of a world to be 
managed by another crew, our rough voyaging of the seas 
ended forever." 

Rocks and storms I'll fear no more 
When on that eternal shore ; 
Drop the anchor, furl the sail — 
I am safe within the vale. 

Christian at Work. 



THE YEAR'S LEDGER. 

AMELIA E. BARR. 

I said one day a year ago, 

" I wonder, if I truly kept 
A list of days when life burned low, 

Of days I smiled, and days I wept, 



CLOSIXG-YEAR SERVICE. 4°9 

If good or bad would highest mount 
When I made up the year's account? " 

I took a ledger, fair and fine. 

" And now," I said, " when days are glad, 
I'll write with bright red ink the line, 

And write with black when they are bad; 
So that they'll stand before my sight 
As clear apart as day and night. 

" I will not heed the changing skies, 

Nor if it shine, nor if it rain ; 
But if there comes some sweet surprise 

Of friendship, love, or honest gain, 
Why, then, it shall be understood 
That day is written down as good. 

"And if to any one I love 

A blessing meets them on the way, 
That will a double pleasure prove, 

So it shall be a happy day ; 
And if some day I've cause to dread 
Pass harmless by, I'll write it red. 

" When hands and brain stand labors test, 

And I can do the thing I would, 
Those days when I am at my best 

Shall all be traced as very good ; 
And in 'red letter' too I'll write 
Those rare, strong hours when right is might. 

" When first I meet in some grand book 

A noble soul that touches mine, 
And with his vision I can look 

Through some ' Gate Beautiful ' of time, 
That day such happiness will shed 
That golden-lined will seem the red. 



410 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

"And when pure, holy thoughts have power 
To touch my heart and dim my eyes, 

And I, in some diviner hour, 

Can hold sweet converse with the skies, 

Ah! then my soul may safely write, 

' This day hath been most good and bright.' * 

What do I see on looking back ? 

A Red-lined Book before me lies, 
With here and there a thread of Black 

That like a passing shadow flies ; 
A shadow, it must be confessed, 
That often rose in my own breast. 

And I have found 'tis good to note 
The blessing that is mine each day; 

For happiness is vainly sought 
In some dim future far away. 

Just try my ledger for a year, 

Then look with grateful wonder back ; 

And you will find — there is no fear — 
The Red Days far exceed the Black. 

Treasure Trove. 



A SONG FOR NEW-YEAR'S EVE. 

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. 

Stay yet, my friends, a moment stay ; 

Stay, for the good Old Year, 
So long companion of our way, 

Shakes hands and leaves us here. 
Oh stay, oh stay, 
One little hour, and then away. 



CLOSING-YEAR SERVICE. 41 1 

The Year, whose hopes were high and strong, 

Has now no hopes to wake ; 
Yet one hour more of jest and song 

For his familiar sake. 
Oh stay, oh stay, 
One mirthful hour, and then away. 

The kindly Year, his liberal hands 

Have lavished all his store ; 
And shall we turn from where he stands 

Because he gives no more ? 
Oh stay, oh stay, 
One grateful hour, and then away. 

Days brightly came and calmly went 

While yet he was our guest ; 
How cheerfully the work was spent ! 

How sweet the seventh-day's rest ! 
Oh stay, oh stay, 
One good hour more, and then away. 

Dear friends were with us — some who sleep 

Beneath the coffin lid ; 
What pleasant memories we keep 

Of all they said and did! 
Oh stay, oh stay, 
One tender hour, and then away. 

Even while we sing he smiles his last, 

And leaves our sphere behind — 
The good Old Year is with the past ; 

Oh, be the New as kind ! 
Oh stay, oh stay, 
One parting strain, and then away. 



41^ THOUGHTS TOR THE OCCASION. 

THE OLD YEAR'S BLESSING. 

FRANCES L. MACE. 

The pale leaves flee before the dread November ; 

The darkest days are near. 
" I will not let thee go, except thou bless me," 

swift-departing Year ! 

Stern is thy face, and with harsh note of warning 

Thy voice imperious rings ; 
Yet underneath thy gloomy, warlike vesture 

1 see an angel's wings ! 

Lift them not yet, but of the priceless treasure 

Hid in thy garment's fold 
Oh, let my hands a full and shining portion 

In these last moments hold. 

Not now the beaming cup of promised pleasure 

I ask thee to bestow ; 
The thrill and glow of bright anticipation 

Are of the long ago. 

But calm content and peaceful retrospection 

And rest from anxious fear, 
And cheerful waiting for life's lingering harvest — 

Give these, O passing Year ! 

And love that has no fear of loss in parting, 

Faith tinged with dawning sight, 
And still communion in the heart's recesses 

With those who walk in light- 
All these are thine, O swift-departing Presence ! 

Thine to withhold or give ; 



CLOSING-YEAR SERVICE. 4*3 

And only they who win thy latest blessing 
Have truly learned to live. 

Bend from those frowning clouds with parting splendor ; 

Let my uplifted eyes 
Behold, reflected on thy fading features, 

The light of Paradise. Advance. 



TO THE OLD YEAR. 

M. K. A. STONE. 

Old Year ! the tried, the true, I hold you close, 

Though fast your moments fleet ; 
For yours has been the gracious gift to know 

Our sainted ones, whose feet 
Will come this way no more. For this your boon, 

Through many a pang and tear, 
Blended with tender, patient memories, 

I love you, good Old Year ! 

Not that your days unclouded came and went, 

Not that the light was sweet, 
But that the darkness drew us close to Christ 

In following his feet. 
Hallowed by fires of pain — God's proof of love, 

Pure, infinite, and free — 
You helped us guage the cost and weigh the worth 

Of human sympathy. 

The strange New Year that knocketh at our gate 

Has yet to learn our needs — 
Has yet to seize the clue. Its barred path, 

Who knoweth where it leads ? 



4 H THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

We only know that One whose steps err not 

Is guide. He goes before : 
" I will not leave you " — this his given word — 

" Nor fail you evermore." 

Sunday-school Times, 



FAREWELL TO THE OLD YEAR, 

SARAH DOUDNEY. 

Farewell, Old Year ; we walk no more together ; 

I catch the sweetness of thy latest sigh, 
And, crowned with yellow brake and withered heather, 

I see thee stand beneath this cloudy sky. 

Here in the dim light of a gray December 
We part in smiles, and yet we met in tears ; 

Watching thy chilly dawn, I well remember 
I thought thee saddest-born of all the years, 

I knew not then what precious gifts were hidden 
Under the mist that veiled thy path from sight ; 

I knew not then that joy would come unbidden 
To make thy closing hours divinely bright. 

I only saw the dreary clouds unbroken, 

I only heard the plash of icy rain, 
And in that winter gloom I found no token 

To tell me that the sun would shine again. 

dear Old Year, I wronged a Father's kindness; 
I would not trust him with my load of care ; 

1 stumbled on in weariness and blindness, 

And lo! he blessed me with an answered prayer ! 



CLOSING-YEAR SERVICE. 4*5 

Good-by, kind Year ; we walk no more together, 

But here in quiet happiness we part ; 
And from thy wreath of faded fern and heather 

I take some sprays, and wear them on my heart. 



THE END OF THE YEAR AND THE END OF 

LIFE. 

It is not death to die — 

To leave this weary road, 
And, midst the brotherhood on high, 

To be at home with God. 

It is not death to close 

The eye long dimmed by tears, 
And wake in glorious repose, 

To spend eternal years. 

It is not death to bear 

The wrench that sets us free 
From dungeon-chain, to breathe the air 

Of boundless liberty. 

It is not death to fling 

Aside this sinful dust, 
And rise on strong, exulting wing 

To live among the just. 

Jesus, thou Prince of Life, 

Thy chosen cannot die ! 
Like thee, they conquer in the strife, 

To reign with thee on high. 

G. W. BETHUNE. 



416 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

As the bird trims her to the gale, 

I trim myself to the storm of time ; 
I man the rudder, reef the sail, 

Obey the voice at eve obeyed at prime : 
" Lowly, faithful, banish fear, 

Right onward drive unharmed ; 
The port, well worth the cruise, is near, 

And every wave is charmed." 

EMERSON. 



Say not " Good-night," but in some brighter clime 
Bid me " Good-morning." 

ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD. 



It is little matter at what hour of the day 
The righteous fall asleep ; death cannot come 
To him untimely who has learned to die. 
The less of this brief life, the more of heaven ; 
The shorter time, the longer immortality. 

DEAN MILMAN. 

HOPEFULLY WAITING. 

A. D. F. RANDOLPH. 

I would be joyful as my days go by, 

Counting God's mercies to me. He who bore 
Life's heaviest cross is mine forevermore ; 

And I, who wait his coming, shall not I 
On his sure word rely ? 

So if sometimes the way be rough, and sleep 
Be heavy for the grief he sends to me, 

Or at my waking I would only weep — 

Let me be mindful that these things must be, 

To work his blessed will until he come 

And take my hand and lead me safely home. 



CLOSING-YEAR SERVICE. 4*7 

AT LAST. 

JOHN G. WHITTIER. 

When at the last my day of life is falling, 

And in the winds from unsunned spaces blown 

I hear far voices in the darkness calling 
My feet to paths unknown, 

Thou, who hast made my home of life so pleasant, 
Leave not its tenant when its walls decay ; 

Life Divine, O Helper ever present, 
Be thou my strength and stay ! 

Be near me when all else is from me drifting — 

Earth, sky, home's pictures, days of shade and shine, 

And kindly faces to my own uplifting 
The love that answers mine. 

1 have but thee, O Father ! Let thy Spirit 

Be near me then, to strengthen and uphold. 
No branch of palm, no gate of pearl I merit, 
No street of shining gold. 

Suffice it if, my good and ill unreckoned, 

Or both forgiven through thine abounding grace, 

I find myself by hands familiar beckoned 
Unto my fitting place : 

Some humble door among the many mansions, 

Some sheltering shade where sin and striving cease ; 

Where flows forever through heaven's green expansions 
The river of thy peace. 

There from the music round about me stealing 
I fain would learn the new and holy song, 

And find at length, beneath thy trees of healing, 
The life for which I long. 



OLD HOME WEEK. 

Historical- — Old Home Week was suggested by Governor Frank 
W. Rollins, of New Hampshire, at a dinner of the Sons of New Hamp- 
shire, in Boston, Mass., in 1899. The idea was taken up by the New 
Hampshire State Board of Agriculture, which called a meeting at 
Concord, N. H., June 6, 1899, where the New Hampshire Old Home 
Week Association was organized, and Governor Rollins was chosen its 
president. 

This Association recommended the observance of the week August 
2oth-September 1st ; and more than fifty local associations were formed 
in different towns and cities, which collected lists of former residents of 
New Hampshire then residing elsewhere; and invited their home- 
coming. 

Governor Rollins's invitation, mailed to every former resident whose 
address could be found, was as follows : 

Come back again. 
" But far more bright, more dear than all, 
That dream of home, that dream of home." 

Old Home Week in New Hampshire, August 26 to Septembei i 1899. 

" How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.- Executive Department. 

The residents of New Hampshire have conceived the idea of celebrat- 
ing the week of August 26 to September 1 of the present year as Old 
Home Week, and of inviting every person who ever resided in New 
Hampshire, and the descendants of former residents, to return and 
visit the scenes of their youth and renew acquaintance with our people. 

It affords me pleasure as Governor of New Hampshire to extend this 
invitation in behalf of our people, and to assure those who may be able 
to accept that they will receive a cordial greeting in any section of the 
Old Granite State. 

During this week our people intend to keep open house, and the doors 
of our hospitality will be swung wide open. A large number of towns 
and cities in the State will have local celebrations during the week, to 
which all are cordially invited. 

Old Home appeals to every person of mature years, father, mother, 
and childhood, and when you think of the old home, you bring back 
the tenderest memories possessed by man, — true love, perfect faith, 
holy reverence, high ambitions, — the "long, long thoughts of youth." 
Few States have furnished more men and women who have achieved 

419 



420 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

distinction and renown than New Hampshire, and our people hold their 
sons and daughters in high regard. In behalf of the people of New 
Hampshire, I heartily invite all to whom New Hampshire is a former 
home or place of nativity to visit the State during Old Home Week. 

F. W. Rollins, 



This invitation was widely accepted. 



Governor. 



On the evening of Saturday, August 26, New Hampshire from 
boundary to boundary was dotted with strange fires. Flame told flame, 
from hill to hill and from peak to peak, that the State's first Old Home 
Week was on. It was a fitting revival of the old Scotch calling of the 
clans. In those days of chivalry and border wars the signal fires called 
men of one blood together for strenuous deeds. New Hampshire's 
beacons called together men of one love — love of their native State — 
for peaceful reminiscence and recreation. Fireworks blazed from Mt. 
Washington, the highest summit in the State, and Jefferson, Fabyan's 
Intervale, and North Conway saw the signals and answered them. In 
the center of the State old Kearsarge, godmother of battleships, blazed 
forth above the lower lights. At Mount Vernon the whole town was 
illuminated so as to shine afar. Paths of light were blazed in the mid- 
summer darkness from the Cocheco to the Connecticut. 

These rejoicings were followed by special religious exercises in the 
churches Sunday; and varied exercises through the week, including 
processions, public meetings, orations, banquets, and the reviving of 
historic memories and the erection of memorial tablets in different 
places. 

Some of the sons of New Hampshire, unable to go home, celebrated 
the time by meetings in their distant places of residence, a notable 
celebration being held by Sons of New Hampshire in Pacific Grove, 
California. 

The New Hampshire idea commended itself in other States, and was 
adopted in Maine in 1900, in 1901 in Vermont, and in 1902 in Massa- 
chusetts, and later in Connecticut and Rhode Island; nor has it been 
confined to New England, but Ohio, Indiana. New York, Pennsylvania, 
and Kentucky have followed, Kentucky this year dedicating special 
days to distinguished Kentuckians, Daniel Boone being named as the 
pioneer after whom the time in that State should be called. 

The movement has shown that about 125,000 sons and daughters of 
New Hampshire have left their old homes there — about 1,000,000 in all 
New England. It cannot be said how many of these have turned back 
to accept the hospitality of Old Home Week ; but reunions of increas- 
ing interest have been held in hundreds of old towns, scores of interest- 
ing historical sites have been marked with pleasant and patriotic cere- 
monies, there has been a great revival of interest in local history, and 
many discouraged hill towns have received helpful stimulus. The social 
and moral influence of the occasion has proved most beneficial, and Old 
Home Week seems to have come to stay. 



OLD HOME WEEK. 42 1 

OLD HOME WEEK ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

GOV. FRANK W. ROLLINS.* 

We are gathered here to celebrate the second Old Home 
Week. Last year it was an experiment ; this year it is an 
established fact, an established custom, or institution. I need 
hardly say that it is a matter of deep gratification to me that 
the idea has met hearty recognition, and that it bids fair to 
do so much for New Hampshire. We were more than suc- 
cessful last year in calling back to the old hearthstone those 
who had wandered afar and joined their fortunes to those of 
other commonwealths. Every town received its quota of 
returning children with wide-open arms, and I venture to say 
that these occasions were the happiest, the merriest, as well 
as the saddest ever celebrated in any of these ancient ham- 
lets since they were hewn and carved out of the primeval 
forest. 

Not all of those who returned to us on Old Home Week 
went away again. There were some here and there on whom 
the sight of old friends, the hand-grasp of early associates, 
the visits to boyhood's scenes, acted like a magnet, and they 
were not able to withstand the pleadings of their renewed 
youth. And what shall we say of the good brought to the 
individual, to our own people ? Who can tell of the renewed 
hope, the renewed courage, the broader outlook, the higher 
ideals, inspired by the gentle optimism of love and kinship ? 
We learn that we are not forgotten, that the pulse of all 
those who are scattered over the world still beats true to 
their native state. 

" Forget New Hampshire ? Let Kearsarge forget to greet 
the sun ; 

* Delivered at Concord, N. H., August 1900. 



422 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Connecticut forsake the sea ; the Shoals their breakers 

shun ; 
But fervently, while life shall last, tho' wide our ways 

decline, 
Back to the Mountain-Land our hearts will turn as to a 

shrine." 

Most of the children reared in this state have been reared 
among scenes of toil ; their lives were not all rosy as the 
dawns which swept over the eastern hills as they drove 
their cows to pasture. Life was a struggle, but sweetened 
by loving counsel, sage advice, and wholesome example. 
Then, too, while the soil was cold and unready to give up 
its secrets, life was lived amidst the most beautiful scenery 
and surroundings. They became art lovers and idealists 
without knowing it, and the pictures of those early scenes 
and surroundings are indelibly photographed on their brains, 
and whenever they are brain-weary or discouraged or ill, 
there comes sweeping back this picture, and their feet turn 
involuntarily toward the old hill farm. There, they know, 
is peace, there is balm, there is healing. There is where 
they sought the protection of mother-love, and the soothing 
hand, when o'erwhelmed by childhood's pains and troubles, 
and there still, although the real mother may have long since 
passed to her well earned rest, is Mother Nature, ever ready 
to soothe the wanderer and nurse him back to health and 
vigor. Home and mother are the two sweetest, tenderest 
words in the English language, more dear to all true men 
and women than all other words, and the two are inter- 
twined and indissolubly blended. You cannot think of one 
without the other ; so when we ask you to come home, it is 
your mother's voice ; and though she may not be here to 
greet you, the sweet memories and dear recollections will 
partially take her place,— 



OLD HOME WEEK. 423 

One of the benefits to be hoped for, and indeed already 
accomplished, in some degree, is a reawakening of pride. 
Now pride is a great thing, a great incentive, a great pre- 
ventive, whether it is pride of ancestry, pride of locality, 
pride of state, or pride of accomplishment. A person, a 
community, or a state without pride seldom amounts to any- 
thing. Pride in the individual incites to emulation of the 
meritorious acts of one's predecessors, prevents bad habits 
for fear of tarnishing the family name, and is a constant 
check and " exciter." In a community it leads to local im- 
provement and municipal advance ; it builds roads ; it cares 
for the trees ; it provides libraries aud schools, and it watches 
over the fame of its children. In the state it bands men to- 
gether for defense, or it leads them in the path of progress, 
and it arouses a healthy rivalry with sister states. One of. 
the chief troubles with some of our oldest country towns of 
late years has been that their pride was dormant, sleeping. 
In several instances Old Home Week has aroused this pride, 
and the results have been magical. The true born Yankee 
is as full of pride and independence as he can stick, and as 
long as it is active he and his community are pretty sure to 
go right ; but let it get rusty and the results are direful 
The coming back of so many old residents to compare the 
present with the past, to encourage, to incite, to give the 
helping hand, has given this pride a tonic, and stiffened 
some backbones which had grown lax and flexible.' Instead 
of waiting to see what will drop into their laps, some of 
these towns, are reaching out eagerly to grasp the rich fruits 
which lie so readily at hand, only waiting to be plucked. 

The world is ready to cheer on and assist any one who is 
willing to work cheerfully himself. If we sit down and 
simply bemoan our present troubles, and point sadly to our 
glorious past, we shall get little help or sympathy. It is a 
world of activity, and if we would keep abreast of the times, 



424 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

we must be up and doing. We must watch the trend of 
events ; we must seize our opportunity as it gallops by, and, 
springing into the saddle, ride to achievement. . . . 

During this week, from where the white waves lap the 
sands of Rye to the pine-clad forests of Canada, from the 
winding of the Saco to the intervales of the Connecticut, 
there is merry-making and glad reunion. Old friends are 
recounting the thousand incidents of childhood, valueless to 
the world, priceless to them. Old places see again the well 
remembered faces. Beside the ocean, in the cooling shades 
of hillside groves, under the whispering pines of the lake- 
shore, I can see them in my mind's eye. The past is re- 
newed, the present discussed, and the future predicted. 
The late lamented Charles H. Bartlett eloquently said : 

" It is often said of all New Hampshire born that they 
carry New Hampshire thoughts, ideas, and principles with 
them wherever they go. No child of hers ever roamed so 
wide as not to feel in his heart of hearts that he was still 
within the shadow of her mountain peaks. Out of her bor- 
ders many have gone to wage life's battle, but never yet 
one out of her heart. Behind the departing she shuts no 
door. She keeps the lamp burning in the window, and 
builds her beacon fires on all her heights as a standing, 
loving invitation to come back again when ambition has had 
her fill, to be registered anew in the ever swelling catalogue 
of her precious jewels." 

The homes of New Hampshire are the true source of our 
greatness. It is from these Christian homes that have gone 
forth the thousands of men whose names are on the coun- 
try's scroll of fame. Their success is due in no small de- 
gree to the molding of character at the hands of God-fearing, 
God-loving parents ; to the habits of industry and thrift 
inculcated by those who knew what hardship and self-abne- 
gation meant ; and to that respect and reverence for holy 



OLD HOME WEEK. 425 

things and constituted authority now frequently noticeable 
by its absence. If we would continue to pour forth this 
stream of strong, fearless, masterful manhood, we must look 
to the homes — we must keep our standards high, our ideals 
pure — we must not allow the waves of skepticism and mate- 
rialism to swamp our natural inheritance of steadfastness to 
truth and our God. Let us not be ashamed to acknowledge 
our reliance on a superior being, our belief in the beautiful 
teachings of Christ. Let us recognize our dependence, and 
let us support the church, which is the backbone of the 
home. Instead of spending our time in denominational 
strife, let us concentrate our efforts. If the town is too 
small and poor for several churches, join hands in the hearty 
support of one, throwing aside non-essentials of church gov- 
ernment, if necessary, for the true essentials, the heart and 
core of Christ's teachings, through which " we live and move 
and have our being.-' 

THE BEAUTY AND MEANING OF THE HOME 
COMING. 

THOMAS NELSON PAGE, OF VIRGINIA.* 

Your governor has struck on an idea which is not only an 
exceedingly happy one, but one which is much more im- 
portant and far-reaching than appears at first glance. He has 
started in this home festival an institution which, if properly 
taken up and fostered, is likely to produce important conse- 
quences. It is founded on one of the strongest and most 
abiding principles in our whole American life, — the love of 
home. This is a people-strengthening and nation-building 
principle. The Romans set up their Lares and Penates, 
their gods of hearth and home, to whom they paid their duti- 

* Delivered at Concord, N, H. 



426 



THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 



ful worship and offerings. We have no altars and temples 
erected to these gods, for we have no need of them. Wher- 
ever in the old American life was a hearthstone, there was 
an altar. Wherever there was a home, though it were but a 
single room, it may be a cottage on a hill or a cabin beside 
a spring, hallowed by -the sanctity of domestic affection, there 
was a temple consecrated and inviolable. It was a religion 
impaired by no schisms, weakened by no sects. 

This home passion is one of the basic principles on which 
the life and vigor of a people is builded. It is the very 
foundation on which the character of a nation rests, and 
when it is impaired, however insidious the enemy that as- 
saults it, the whole structure becomes shaken and must in 
time crumble to its fall. 

I am proud to say that this love of home is one of the 
basic characteristics of our race. The earliest records of 
the great Teutonic people, from which we have sprung, state 
its existence. The Roman historian, Tacitus, relating the 
story of the wars of Rome, tells how in the northern forests 
towards the Baltic sea a people lived who established each 
his separate home and were true to their domestic relations. 
It was on the southern confines of the lands inhabited by 
this people that the Roman eagles stayed their flight. They 
were called the free-necked people because they had never 
bowed their heads to pass beneath the Roman yoke. In 
time they became conquerors themselves, and, setting their 
faces to the westward, they conquered, captured, and settled 
Britain. Again they followed the instinct of the race. 

Taine, in his wonderful study of English literature, records 
how the Saxons, when they took possession of Britain, spread 
themselves over the land, and how, wherever there was a 
spring or a fountain, a home was established, for which each 
man was ready if need were to sell his life. Here they soon 
beat out their system of government and began to build the 



OLD HOME WEEK. 427 

civilization which we know today, laying it upon the two 
rocks of the right of each land-holder to have a voice in the 
government, and of trial by jury — a jury of his vicinage. 
Upon this, in my judgment, rests the essential difference 
between our civilization and our government and every other 
which has preceded us in the history of the world. 

The Norman conquest came, a conquest, mark you, not 
of foreigners, but only of a more compact and better organ- 
ized branch of the same race, gifted with more knowledge 
and a more advanced civilization, and for a time it might 
have appeared that the Anglo-Saxon race was overthrown 
and conquered. The external form of government was to a 
certain extent changed. The dominant class was over- 
thrown. City and fortress and castle passed out of their 
hands into the hands of new lords. They were so dominant 
and powerful that whole tracts of populous country were 
swept clean to make a hunting park for their kings and 
nobles. And yet, what do we find ? Within a few genera- 
tions we find the people who had apparently been conquered, 
once more the masters of their land, masters in government, 
masters in religion, masters in national life. We find the 
language of the people absorbing the language of the con- 
queror, not conquered but enriched by it. We find the con- 
querers becoming more and more absorbed into the life of 
the people. We find the civilization of the people not de- 
stroyed by that of the conquerors, but improved and en- 
riched by it. We find, indeed, that, absolute as the con- 
quering king claimed to be, he was dependent upon the 
people ; haughty and powerful as the nobles in their castles 
appeared to be, they were dependent upon the people. When 
the charter was obtained from John at Runnymede, it was 
not alone the nobles that obtained it, but the people who 
stood behind them and knew their rights. Kings may come 
and kings may go, tyrants may arise and assert themselves 



428 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

for a little space, their thrones established upon the power 
given them by the people ; but far around them exists a 
force on which all true power can be established, — the people. 
They may be amused for a time ; they may be deceived for 
a time ; but when they begin to think, let tyrants tremble. 
The next step is organization, and against the thoughtful, 
deliberate, patient, concentrated, rightly-directed action of 
the people, there is no power under that of God able to stand. 

The house of lords is a time-honored, and, in some re- 
spects, a venerable part of the government of that country 
from which we came ; but the true government of that coun- 
try is vested in the commons, the direct representatives of 
the people. Charles the First, surrounded by the sanctity 
of the divine right of kings, with the traditions of a dozen 
generations of royal ancestors behind him, adored by the 
nobility, supported by the flower of the cavaliers, was no 
match for Cromwell supported only by the people. It may 
be on Bosworth Field, it may be at Naseby, it may be at 
Boyne-Water, it may be at Lexington, it may be at York- 
town ; but the victorious army is the army of the people 
and the people's right ; that army of those who stand for 
their homes and the rights that those homes stand for. 

Let us try to preserve this home life. Let us not cast 
away the inestimable birthright left us by our fathers. Had 
it not been for it, they could never have achieved and be- 
queathed such a heritage. It was for their homes that they 
stood and withstood against oppression of every kind what- 
soever. The home was the temple of liberty, the fortress of 
freedom. From this sprang the hundred, the hamlet, the 
town, the state, the union. 

We have advantages that our fathers did not possess, and 
let us not turn them into disadvantages, and so from our 
very wealth create our own destruction. Almost the greatest 
advantage that the present has over the past is that which 



OLD no ME WEEK. 429 

comes from greater knowledge. Almost the greatest ad- 
vantage to be derived from that greater knowledge is that of 
ability to draw closer to each other. This is a great coun- 
try, but its real greatness is not its stretching confines, its 
vast agricultural territory, its incalculable mineral deposits, 
its wonderful commercial abilities. Its greatness consists 
in its people, and in their inherited virtue and principle, — 
in their potential power. 

That in union there is strength is a truism almost too old 
to be repeated ; but it is the basis of our greatness. The 
greatness of this country rests at last upon the fact that from 
one end to the other throughout its length are a homogeneous 
people, all holding the same articles of essential faith. So 
long as we stand together, we are unconquerable. 

Your sons have gone out to the ends of the earth, adding 
to the force and the greatness of this nation. The great 
expounders of the constitution were your Webster and our 
Marshall and Clay. 

Your governor has started a great movement ; you have 
thrown open your doors and sent forth your invitation to all 
your sons to return to their welcoming mother, and they 
have come trooping with beating hearts and softened eyes, 
and will through the years continue to come as this ripens 
into an annual festival. . . . 

It is the possession of the old home instincts which makes 
the fifty millions of Americans, the great body of home- 
holders and home-lovers, wealthier than that congregation 
of globe-trotting millionaires who perch for a season on the 
hills of the Rhode Island coast with all their riches. It is 
the lack of it that makes those wanderers on the face of the 
earth poorer than the poorest American who owns his home 
and finds it warmed with family affection and lighted with 
content. 

How poor an exchange they make who barter love of 



43 d THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION". 

home and country and all that they comprise for the privilege 
of flitting hither and thither, like Noah's raven, over the 
face of the earth, losing the respect and esteem that they 
might have had at home and gaining but the contempt, or 
at most the hollow flattery of those at whose doors they 
stand and knock with servile eagerness. . . . 

A public discussion arose some time ago. as to what one 
thing one would rather have written. The verdict reached 
by the judges appointed for the purpose, after consideration 
of the votes handed in, was that it lay between the child- 
hood prayer, " Now I lay me down to sleep," and " Home, 
Sweet Home." 

In a graveyard at Washington is a monument to an author 
who, in his time, wrote many works. He was a dramatist, a 
translator, a poet. He wrote and translated more than sixty 
works. Among these was an opera entitled, " Clari, the 
Maid of Milan," of which he was doubtless very proud. I 
wonder how many of you now know the name of this opera, 
much less ever heard it. In it he inserted a little song. It 
has been adopted in every country and sung in every clime. 
It is known in millions of homes and awakens responsive 
chords in every heart. It is entitled, " Home, Sweet Home," 
and because of it, a third of a century after his death, John 
Howard Payne's remains were brought home from foreign 
soil to" rest in his native land, at home. 

No doubt you know the story that during our great Civil 
War, when the two hostile opposing armies of Americans 
lay entrenched opposite each other on the slopes above the 
Rapidan, ready to spring for that death grapple in which 
some of you here participated, and of which we all have 
memories, the bands of the hostile commands could be heard 
from camp to camp playing the martial airs that one side 
and the other had chosen as their slogans. It is said that 
one evening as the hush of evening fell, the bands of both 



OLD HOME WEEK. 43* 

sides were heard playing an air, — an air which each held as 
its own, — " Home, Sweet Home," and as the strains floated 
out over the slopes and vales of the Rapidan, all other sounds 
were hushed and the two armies began to cheer each other, 
forgetting the unhappy enmity which had arrayed them in 
hostile lines, remembering only that they had a common 
blood, a common heritage, — the heritage of the home, and 
that around that sacred shekinah they united as one family. 

THE BENEFITS OF OLD HOME WEEK. 

HON. WILLIAM E. CHANDLER, OF CONCORD.* 

I must speak a word of greeting to our distinguished visi- 
tors from other states, who are, by their presence and their 
appropriate words, helping us to fix firmly in the hearts of 
our citizens the sentiment of devotion to our new holiday. 
We thank you for your generous attendance and your kind 
service to a most grateful assemblage. 

The benefits of Old Home Week have become apparent to 
us all. The Old Home Comers help us and help themselves. 
In those who have gone out from our state there have arisen 
tender thoughts of the old homesteads, of the fathers, the 
mothers, the brothers and sisters and friends of their earliest 
days, and irresistible longings to visit the scenes of their 
youth ; and so they have come by hundreds to look upon 
old sights, to clasp hands with old friends, to talk of old 
events, and to make happy the hearts and more cheerful the 
lives of all who meet in the joyous communion of these 
blessed summer days. 

A few words not about the Old Home Comers, but about 
the New Home Comers. We are drawing to New Hamp- 
shire not only natives of the state and their descendants, 

* Delivered at Concord, N. H. 



4^2 THOUGHTS TOk THE OCCASION. 

but also many visitors who are not natives or their descend- 
ants, who come to us to make either temporary or perma- 
nent residences because of the many attractions of the Swit- 
zerland of America. . . . 

What need we do to draw the New Home Comers within 
our borders ? It is true that nature has done more than we 
can do. Nature has given the pure air of our summer 
breezes. I asked Mr. Clarence King why he had advised 
Colonel Hay (secretary of state) to make his summer home 
on the shores of Sunapee lake, and he replied that he did so 
because he found that it had the purest air in the world. 
Nature has also provided the mountains and the valleys, the 
lakes and the streams, and above all the magnificent forest 
growths, without which those lakes and streams would shrivel 
into emptiness, and after this the forests themselves would 
fade and disappear beyond renewal. 

What can we do ? We can aid forest preservation by 
adopting wise laws and prudent customs. In the middle 
and lower part of the state the acreage covered by forest 
growth is rapidly increasing and beautifying every landscape. 
We can make this growth a better one, and we can aid in 
establishing a safe system of timber cutting at the head- 
waters of all our rivers ; and can rigidly prevent devastating 
forest fires. . . . 

Above all we must maintain and, if possible, improve our 
moral conditions if we wish to attract more New Home 
Comers, as well as more Old Home Comers. No state can 
now surpass New Hampshire in the good order, sobriety, 
and moral and religious traits of her people. Let us keep 
and strengthen the good character of the state, and prove 
to all the world that the " righteousness which exalteth a 
nation " is present in full abundance in the old Granite 
State. 



OLD HOME WEEK. 



433 



THE TRUE SPIRIT OF OLD HOME WEEK. 

HON. JACOB H. GALLINGER, OF CONCORD.* 

It seems to me that on such an occasion as this those of 
us who are at home should be granted the privilege of silence 
and be permitted the pleasure of listening to the voices of 
those who have returned from their wanderings to spend a 
few days amid the associations of their early life, realizing, 
as they must, the truthfulness of that sweet old song, the 
first line of which breathes the true spirit of Old Home 
Week — " How dear to my heart are the scenes of my child- 
hood." 

The evolution of ideas is everywhere recognized. Every 
great invention is the culmination of suggestions and fancies 
on the part of many persons. Ultimately some one man 
gathers up the fragments, puts them in shape, and properly 
gets the credit of the invention. The village picnic, the 
town celebration, the return of individuals or families to the 
early homes of those who pushed out into the world in 
search of fame or fortune, the associations of the Sons and 
Daughters of New Hampshire in Massachusetts, in Ohio 
and other states, have doubtless all contributed towards de- 
veloping the Old Home Week idea. 

I take it that no man or boy — not even the bride in the 
moment of highest exultation and anticipation — leaves the 
old home without a sigh of sorrow and a hope of return. 
How well I remember the day I left the old farm, a mere 
boy, with my mother's blessing, to go out into the world and 
engage in the battle of life. And when, one year ago, forty- 
five years after my departure, I stood by the old well, still 
shaded, as it was in my boyhood, by a massive oak, I could 

* Delivered at Concord, N. H, 



434 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

not repress an audible expression of filial love, and, for the 
moment forgetting other associations and duties, give vent 
to the words, — 

" Home ! home ! sweet, sweet home ! 
Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home." 

But the well and the oak were almost the only objects 
left to remind me of the home of my boyhood days, and I 
turned, as you men will turn at the close of this week, duti- 
fully to the cares and responsibilities that new environments 
had created. 

I need not remind you who have come from a distance to 
participate in these festivities, that a warm hand and a loving 
welcome are extended to you all. It does those of us who 
have remained in New Hampshire good to see you here 
even for a day, to know of your happiness and prosperity in 
your new homes, and to be assured by your presence that 
you still retain in your hearts an affectionate regard for the 
dear old state. Welcome, thrice welcome, to all who have 
journeyed, whether from far or near, to add interest to this 
occasion, so crowded with memories of the past and aspira- 
tions for the future ! 

If all had lived who have left New Hampshire for other 
parts of our country, what an array of talent Old Home 
Week might summon to the state. Imagine this occasion 
graced by the presence of Daniel Webster, Lewis Cass, Sal- 
mon P. Chase, Henry W T ilson, Horace Greeley, Zachariah 
Chandler, William Pitt Fessenden, Charles A. Dana, Benja- 
min F. Butler, John A. Dix, James W. Grimes, Nathaniel P. 
Baker, John Wentworth, and others whose names come in- 
stinctively to our lips. What an occasion that would be ! 
Orators, statesmen, editors, soldiers, — men who were in the 
thick of the fight when it needed brave hearts and strong 
intellects to serve the best interests of humanity and liberty. 



OLD HOME WEEK. 435 

But they are gone, leaving behind them glorious memories, 
of which every true son and daughter of New Hampshire 
will forever be proud ; they are numbered with the dead, 
but others there are living today in distant parts of the land 
who shed fame and luster upon the old Granite State. . . . 

I believe it is Plutarch who, in his " Life of Demosthenes," 
says : " I live in a small town and I choose to live there lest 
it become smaller." Sometimes I wonder if that would not 
be a good sentiment for New Hampshire men to adopt, and, 
instead of going away, stand loyally by the little state and 
help to build up and develop its resources. However that 
may be, certain it is that our hillsides and valleys, our moun- 
tains and lakes, are beckoning them to return after fortune 
is secured, to share in the life-giving and health-preserving 
air, and to enjoy the magnificent scenery of one of the most 
historic and picturesque states of the American Union. 
" Come back " is the cry of our people, and with your cul- 
ture and wealth help to beautify and glorify the common- 
wealth that gave you birth. . . . 

To such a state it is well for her wandering children to 
return at least once each year. The warmth of her greeting 
will be matched by the invigorating ozone of her hills and 
the beauty and sublimity of her valleys. Here will be found, 
as in the days that are gone, thrift, prudence, and virtue ; 
here are exemplified the fruition of honest toil and the fulfil- 
ment of the teachings of the church, the school, and the 
home. 

Yes, and today the voices of her own citizens, joined by 
the voices of those who have come back to do her honor 
and swell the anthem of her praise, send out to the future 
earnest hopes and patriotic prayers for the continued growth 
and prosperity of the state. 



436 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

HOME RECOLLECTIONS. 

F. W. CROOKER, ESQ. BRAINTREE, MASS.* 

When I received your invitation to come here and speak 
to you upon this occasion, I wondered why you selected me, 
but, remembering the ancient custom of looking in the old 
Farmers' Almanac for almost everything, I turned to August 
17, and it says : " About this time look for something dry," 
so here I am. . . . 

I need not go into ancient history. You can read that as 
well as I can. It is enough for me to say that New Hamp- 
shire was discovered by me on May 10, 1856. If the records 
are correct they will bear me out. I landed right here in 
Merrimack on the darkest night that has been recorded. I 
did not have a dollar or any means of earning one. I was 
immediately surrounded by the natives and was obliged to 
subsist for years upon such as they saw fit to give me ; even 
my first suit of clothes might have been used for a girl just 
as well. What could I say ? Not a word, so they had their 
way just as much as they did before I discovered the place. 
Just like all other pioneers, it took several years to find out 
just what I had discovered. As time went on the natives 
had more confidence in me, and after I had been here nearly 
six years I was sent to a little brick building, in charge of 
an aunt. This place was held by a noble woman, I after- 
ward learned, but a tall, dark, severe looking person. Her 
hair was black, her clothing was black, and her good heart 
was not allowed to shine out through her face. It was my 
second experience with darkness, and I was afraid. I never 
shall forget the terror that seized me when I was left there 
to become acquainted with that strange woman who was to 
lay the foundation for my education. 

* Delivered at Merrimack, N. H. 



OLD HOME WEEK. 437 

After a few days, however, she managed, in the way that 
none but school teachers have, to allay my fears, so that 
from that time on my school days were the happiest days in 
my recollection. . . . 

Now the governor has advertised for help, and we are all 
coming back to reclaim the abandoned farms, to put back 
the old well sweep, to put up the old stone walls, hang the 
gate that has fallen, and lighten the burdens of the old folks 
who remain in this Switzerland of America. New Hamp- 
shire was a good place to be born in, and it is a good place 
to come back to ; the welcome that is extended by those 
who are here is more than gratifying. No man has got so 
far away that he does not find comfort in the thought that a 
latchstring is still out for him, and although mother's lamp 
no longer burns at the window the scenes of his childhood 
" long for him yet." 

The attitude of the old Granite State towards all reforms 
has been for the right. She did her part in the struggle for 
independence, and in the Civil War she furnished 34,605 
brave men, of whom 5,518 perished in battle and 11,039 
were disabled by wounds or sickness. She spends liberally 
for education and highways. Her laws are all right, and 
while outsiders criticise her for not enforcing her liquor law 
it is not the fault of the law. The trouble is in the hearts 
of men. There is law enough, when men awake to the fact 
that it is better to be sane than silly ; that rum and business 
will not mix. When the trial justices maintain the dignity 
of their office, and when the head is knocked from every 
cidar barrel, then and not till then will the only blot be 
removed from this grand old commonwealth. 

New Hampshire has furnished brains that have stirred 
the world. She has furnished granite to make monuments 
for her heroes, and jails for the rascals in other states. Her 
forests have been scattered all over the world and her rivers 



438 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

have made the cloth that clothes the millions. Today she has 
hundreds of acres waiting to respond to the hand of man. 

Why have so many young men left, you may ask, if there 
is such an opportunity ? It was because they saw no money. 
They heard how easy money was earned " down country," 
and away they went. It is the same today, but it is not the 
fault of New Hampshire that farmers find that a mortgage 
is the easiest thing to raise. It is the system or lack of 
system that fails to bring returns. A man must know his 
business. It is true, the average New Hampshire man pos- 
sesses a liberal share of gumption, but to this must be added 
education along the line he proposes to follow. It is well 
to know a little of many things, but he must know every- 
thing that is known about the business he is to take up. 
The man in business must make every day and every hour 
tell. He must excel in his line, or be left in the race. The 
farmer who uses the same industry and careful study of details 
that he would be obliged to do if he were running a news- 
paper or a factory, will not be obliged to go without money. 

When Governor Rollins called attention to the fact that 
many families were not attending church and religious in- 
terest was losing ground, he was severely criticised by some 
who have since seen that his warning was timely. This sit- 
uation is not alone found in New Hampshire, however. It 
exists in other New England states where the foreign ele- 
ment has taken the places of those who are gone, and those 
who remain have become indifferent. But I, for one, desire 
to thank the governor for what he has done towards arous- 
ing the churches to a realizing sense of their duty. The 
churches criticise the world, and when the churches stand 
idle, or nearly empty, while sin and intemperance stalk 
through their midst, they need to be aroused, and I am glad 
he had the courage to do it. The church that is asleep adds 
no more life to a town than a cemetery, and the church 



OLD HOME WEEK. 439 

member who winks at crime fails in his duty and helps to 
bring hell rather than heaven upon earth. The church must 
have its eyes open, and the minister must be smart enough 
to keep them open. 

I believe it is the duty of every citizen to stand by the 
church. Its influence leads to right thinking, and right 
thinking leads to right living. The man who toils needs the 
day of rest ; the man whose brain is filled with the whirl of 
busy cares during the week needs the comfort that comes 
from a change of thought. No man is so good that he can- 
not be made better, neither is any man or woman altogether 
bad. The church can help them to become better husbands, 
better wives, better neighbors, and better citizens, but when 
we allow ourselves to drift away from the old institutions 
through which God has blessed us all our days, and for 
which our ancestors fought and bled, then we are on the 
down grade. I hope that instead of seeing the old customs 
go to decay the fires kindled here may cause them to shine 
forth more brightly. 

I should fail in my duty today if I did not congratulate 
you upon the improvements you have made in the last 
twenty years. You have better roads, better schools, and 
instead of allowing buildings to go to decay, as is the case 
in many towns about you, you have repaired them, and 
through the windows where I once saw nothing but old hats, 
I now see the faces of bright children of honest working 
people. Many more houses have been built, and your vil- 
lages show the result of thrift and successful manufacture. 
The old sawmills have disappeared, but I suppose according 
to the old rule it was because it took ten mills to make a cent. 

I am glad that you have your grange, and that you keep 
up your social life. When men come together and talk 
matters over there is never any doubt about the result, they 
always help each other. 



440 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION, 

THE OLD HOME REVISITED. 

HON. LUCIEN M. KILBURN, OF FONTANELLE, IOWA.* 

I cannot express the pleasure it gives me to be able to 
meet so many of the friends of my youth in' this, my old 
home town. After an absence of a third of a century, with 
only brief visits between, I return to find the same old hills 
and rocks, the same green woods grown more dense, the 
same old river running ever to the sea, the same quiet lakes 
as of old. All the same, and yet not the same. I read the 
names of many of those whom I knew — the stalwart men and 
women — upon the tombstones in yonder churchyard. I 
greet a few, like myself, bearing the added weight of years, 
who were my associates, and meet a generation which has 
arisen, some of whom bear a family resemblance to those I 
knew in the old time, while many have stranger faces. . . . 

Under such circumstances, what shall I say to you ? If 
I talk about the grand old hills clad in the green dress of 
the ever-encroaching woods, of the clear and sparkling water 
of the brooks and rivers and lakes, of the beauty of these 
valleys and the magnificence of this scenery, you will answer 
me as did the old Populist in a Western convention, where 
were only those of like faith, and who, becoming tired of 
the prolonged talk of one who showed more zeal than good 
judgment, said, " There is no one here disputing what you 
are saying." If I mention the word " Populist," I do not 
intend to introduce politics here today. We are all patriots, 
loving our grand old flag and all it represents, and each 
one resolved to do his whole duty by his country, as it is 
given him to know his duty. 

I congratulate you who have remained upon the old home- 

* Delivered at Webster, N. H. 



OLD HOME WEEK'. 441 

steads on the grit and persistence you have shown in hold- 
ing on to these old relics, while we, like prodigal sons, ap- 
palled at the prospect here, have sought in far countries to 
find happier conditions and more genial climes. You have 
held the fort under adverse circumstances, but a brighter 
prospect is before you. You will change your methods. 
You cannot compete with the great West, which, with its 
facilities for production and transportation can lay down its 
staple food products at your door cheaper than you can pro- 
duce them. Year by year, in increasing numbers, the people 
from the cities and towns, tired with the mad rush of busi- 
ness and the exhaustive drain of social demands, will come 
to these homes in the glad summer time, to get near to 
nature's heart, to recuperate their wasted energies, and under 
these grand old trees, amid these everlasting hills, in the 
solitude of these dark forests, to drink in health and rest. . . . 
With a loyalty and pride in that state of my adoption no 
less than that I owe to the state of my nativity, — my beauti- 
ful state of Iowa, — the land which has given me benefits 
beyond my expectations, and conferred honors perhaps more 
than I deserve, the land which is the home of my loved 
living and which holds the remains of my sainted dead, — I 
bring a tribute of love and remembrance to this land of the 
eternal rock and wood, of lake and stream, and to you, the 
guardians of its sacred shrines. 

HOME THE FOUNTAIN OF CIVIC RIGHTEOUS- 
NESS. 

REV. WILLIAM T. CARTER, GLASTONBURY, CONN.* 

The old home is the centre of attraction drawing to itself 
the children of former days. 

This annual home-coming can have none but a most 
* Delivered at South Harwich, Mass. 



442 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

wholesome influence as a permanent and important factor 
in fostering love of home and in creating a deeper reverence 
for this divine institution. 

As often as this festival recurs it will be the occasion for 
reminiscences of bygone days. 

The pilgrimages to the old home these August days, 
evidence the fact that in man is an inherent love for the 
scenes of childhood days that neither time nor distance can 
impair. 

These occasional journeys to the " dearest spot on earth " 
awaken emotions of the highest order. The very atmos- 
phere seems charged with the love and innocence of child- 
hood. Influences emanating from the heart of the old home 
are intensified, and one returns to the activities of busy life 
with nobler purposes, loftier aspirations and brighter hopes. 
But the blessings of the occasion are not for the home-com- 
ing son and daughter alone. There is something of benefit 
for the " Old folks at home." Opening the doors in glad 
welcome to the returning ones affords opportunity for im- 
pressions from the outside world. This will give to our 
people of the isolated villages a broader view of life in its 
wider spheres of operation, and help all to more fully ap- 
preciate the importance of the out-going home influence in 
the affairs of state and nation. 

The robust character developed in our New England 
homes in the days when the manners and customs of living 
were less pretentious than now, was a vital quality in the 
builders of the nation. 

The same simple faith in God, unswerving loyalty to truth, 
and vision of high ideals that characterized the manhood of 
those early times is essential to-day. 

We are facing conditions from which issue problems most 
difficult for solution. 

Giant foes threaten the purity of social life and the slabil- 



OLD HOME WEEK. 443 

ity of our political foundations. They must be met and 
overcome. To successfully overthrow them demands the 
highest type of manhood. 

The character of the common people largely determines 
the character of our national life. Some one has said : 
" The strength of a nation, especially a republican nation, is 
in the intelligent and well-ordered homes of the people." 

In our efforts to train our children for future citizenship 
we may well hold fast to this thought, for no amount of edu- 
cation acquired in the public schools can compensate for 
the lack of proper home training. 

Give us homes where love is enthroned, virtue prized, 
truth honored, and where God is reverenced and obeyed, 
and the moral integrity and religious faith of the nation will 
be secure. 

It is a wholesome sign that in legislative assemblies and 
religious conventions " civic righteousness " is a theme 
pressing its claims for consideration. But we may remem- 
ber that the most enthusiastic agitation or wisest legislation 
cannot fully accomplish the tremendous task of purifying 
life in its social, political or business capacity. The on- 
ward flow of the streams of corruption may be checked for 
a season, or forced to seek new channels, but the waters of 
a stream are never purer than the fountain from which they 
flow. 

The home is the fountain. The character of that foun- 
tain determines the character of the streams of influence it 
sends forth into the great body of national life. 

Social purity will be realized when personal purity is a 
ruling tact. A wholesome regard for truth in private affairs 
will be felt in every effort to maintain integrity in the larger 
transactions in the business world, and unselfishness will 
discourage the craftiness and unfairness of the scheming 
politician. 



444 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Indeed, as the individual so is the state. 

The religious atmosphere of the home in which there is a 
manifest consciousness of God is a wholesome tonic for 
stimulating a love for the good and pure, that will be more 
and more apparent as the child developes. 

It is a cause for alarm that God is so little in the thought 
of the family. 

Broken altars and unused Bibles are too common in the 
homes of our people, and this is true of too many recognized 
as Christian homes. 

It is fitting at this time when the thoughts are clustered 
about the old home, that we emphasize the importance of 
building homes, true homes ; homes where God is the su- 
preme object of affection ; homes where Christ is an abid- 
ing guest ; homes where the altar fires of love are kept 
burning. Such homes sent forth sons and daughters to 
leaven society with the spirit of righteousness. 

Happy indeed is the one who goes forth into the world 
w r ith the undying influence of such a home about him. To 
him, home is the fondest treasure of memory. 

" The voices of my home — I hear them still. 

They have been with me through the dreamy night — 
The blessed household voices, wont to fill 

My heart's clear depths with unalloyed delight. 
I hear them still, unchanged : — though some from earth 
Are music parted, and tones of mirth — 
Wild, silvery tones, that rang through days more bright — 
Have died in others, yet to me they come, 
Singing of boyhood back — the voices of my home." 



OLD HOME WEEK. 445 

A TRIBUTE TO THE VIRTUES OF NEW ENGLAND. 

HON. HENRY E. HOWLAND OF NEW YORK.* 

I earnestly return your cordial greeting and exclaim, in 
the stereotyped phrase of Captain Pierce at the Thursday 
evening prayer-meetings of the Orthodox church, that "I 
feel it is good for me to be here." The emotions that stir 
one's breast at coming home, setting his foot upon his native 
soil and looking into the faces of his lifelong friends, cannot 
be adequately expressed. Memories cluster thick about us ; 
early years come freshly before us ; the familiar landscape, 
the hills and valleys, sky and air, complete the illusion. In- 
tervening years are obliterated and childhood and youth are 
ours again. More especially is this the case with those 
whom circumstances have held away for long intervals. To 
some of us this old town is more like home than any place 
we have ever known ; the love of it has been uppermost and 
abiding through all years of our lives, and toward it our 
willing feet have turned as the needle to the pole, or the 
Mohammedan pilgrim to the Mecca of his worship. 

As such an one I welcome the veterans of longer absence, 
and chant a paean of rejoicing as they come to this Harvest 
Home, bringing their sheaves with them. 

I have been fortunate for many years in being able to re- 
tain a strong hold upon the association of this favored place, 
the love for which has been transmitted to my children by 
frequent visits, by the ties of kindred here, and the increas- 
ing sense of its beauty and charm to one engrossed with 
care, as time wears on. It lifts the burden of the years to 
comeback here and start afresh, and although when one has 
passed the timber-line of life's cares, where the foliage does 

* Delivered at Walpole, N. H., Aug,. 1900. 



446 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

not grow on top, and is nearing the snow line and getting 
into the shape of the member of the band of which the 
leader said : " Jakie does not play the bass drum in the 
band any more." " Why not ? " " He got so fat that when 
he marched he couldn't hit the drum in* the middle " ; — and 
may not be able to gird himself anew and spring with youth- 
ful, elastic step, he is all the better for trying to do so. 

In my intercourse with the people of this place I have 
learned to have a sense of becoming modesty and feel, in 
this conspicuous place, like the bishop of London who at- 
tended a Salvation Army meeting in Whitechapel, where 
they were singing with great fervor a revival hymn ; stand- 
ing in a pew beside a workingman, he joined in the singing 
but very much out of tune. His neighbor, who sang well, 
stood it as long as he could and finally nudged him in the 
side and whispered audibly, " Dry up, mister, you're spoiling 
the show.". . . 

As this country grows older it pays, with advancing time, 
a larger tribute of honor to the virtues of New England. 
No higher certificate of character is required of any man in 
the length and breadth of the land — East, West, North or 
South — than that he comes of the best New England Stock. 
It is his patent of nobility, and rightfully so» On this rocky 
and unyielding soil, in the wilderness of maine, amid the 
granite bowlders and ledges of New Hampshire, the hillsides 
of Vermont, and the sandy shores and rocky pastures of 
Rhode Island and Connecticut, was bred a race of men of as 
rugged mold as their native soil ; with iron in their blood, 
strength in their sinews, health in their frames, with hearts 
of oak, consciences allied to their duty, God, and their 
country, and endowed with a courage that never quailed 
before mortal man. The conditions of their lives developed 
the best qualities of their English Ancestry, and brought 
them to the ripened bloom of manly perfection. 



OLD HOME WEEK. 447 

Their effort and influence have been carried beyond their 
native borders — beyond the Alleghanies, over the prairies 
of the middle West, across the Mississippi, up the Rocky 
Mountain fastnesses. Its early training made it masterful, 
for all that is best in man comes from effort. I once heard 
Tom Reed say that he trembled to think what the fate of 
this country would have been if the Pilgrim Fathers had 
landed on the fertile soil of California, where the reward of 
husbandmen comes without effort, instead of upon Plymouth 
Rock, where the surroundings demanded the work that 
develop the best that is in man, and that an earnest and 
sincere desire to get six per cent, with a willingness to take 
more, had done more for the world than all the goose eggs. 

We are proud of this old town, and as we come back to 
its hills, let us take new inspiration from the memories and 
associations of the past. 



THE ENDEARMENTS OF HOME. 

HON. HENRY M. PUTNEY.* 

If I rightly conceive the true spirit of the Old Home 
Week, it is of a reminiscent character, and our gathering is 
one in which the past may properly be recalled, — an experi- 
ence meeting in which some personal observations are at 
least allowable. What little I say will be shaped with this 
idea. 

Lacking the courage, energy, and strength to carve out a 
career for myself, since I left the old town I have floated 
with the tide, and I have no fault to find with it, for it has 
carried me into pleasant places and among agreeable people. 
Destiny and I have never had any trouble. I have seen at 

* Delivered at Dunbarton, New Hampshire. 



448 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

their best the states of the Union east of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, and I have enjoyed the companionship of men and 
women who have been good to me and helped me to a fair 
measure of success and an enjoyable existence. But I have 
nowhere found greener fields and pastures, more fascinating 
forests, more limpid brooks, more melodious birds, clearer 
skies, or more gorgeous sunsets than here. As to the sun- 
rises they were too soon for me in those halcyon days, and 
I can make no comparison. . . . 

The mature men and women who tilled the farms and 
presided over the homesteads of Dunbarton in my boyhood 
have always been my ideals. In them was typified all that 
was great, grand, strong, ennobling, and productive in the 
old Puritan, without his bigotry, narrowness, and intolerance. 
Their inborn honesty which was proof against all tempta- 
tions, their intelligence and physical strength which were 
always masterful, their industry which was untiring, their 
conscientious devotion to duty which never slept and never 
wearied, their thrift and frugality which never failed, and 
their fecundity which made them the parents of great fami- 
lies of robust, reliant, resolute children, their perfect loyalty 
to their God, their country, their neighbors, and themselves, 
were the characteristics of a yeomanry which it seems to me 
I have never seen elsewhere. 

I am proud of old Dunbarton ; I like to sound her praises. 
I like to tell people, who talk about the greatness and glory 
of other places, of a town whose people were so peaceable 
and sensible that no lawyer could live among them, and so 
healthy that all doctors gave it a wide berth ; whose clergy- 
men were not so anxious to give the devil a chance that 
they took all-summer vacations, and whose teachers were 
not literary dudes, but hard-working, practical instructors, 
trainers, and guides ; whose boards of selectmen contained 
more brains and conscience than a half-dozen average city 



OLD HOME WEEK. 440 

governments, and whose annual town meetings were perfect 
illustrations of the spirit of a pure democracy ; of a town in 
which religion was in evidence seven days in the week, and 
all were so observant of Christian proprieties that they not 
only supported the minister by contributions but by attend- 
ance on divine worship, and so sensible of the value of an 
education that no sacrifice for the support of the common 
schools was deemed too great ; of a town in which for half 
a century there was neither lawyer, doctor, demagogue, or 
professional politician, neither factory, railroad, hotel, saloon, 
or store except the post-office ; of an exclusively farming 
population whose well-directed energy enabled its members 
to live well, enjoy the good things of life, educate their chil- 
dren, acquire in most cases a competency, and so nearly 
abolish poverty that their almshouse was for a long series of 
years without an inmate ; of a town which to my mind was 
a veritable rural Utopia. 

OUR GOODLY HERITAGE AND TRADITIONS. 

PROF. CHARLES S. BRADLEY.* 

It is my privilege to speak as a representative of the 
greater New Hampshire, extending far beyond the bounds 
of New England, a portion of which is to be found wherever 
the sons of New Hampshire or their descendants cherish the 
traditions and ideals of the old Granite State. 

There are signs of a growing recognition among us of the 
blessings and responsibilities of a goodly heritage in family 
traits and noble traditions. 

This new stirring of interest in forefathers and the an- 
cestral home is but one manifestation of that trait in our 
national character which promises most for the future. 

* Delivered at Concord, New Hampshire. 



45 O THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

It is by no accident that in distant prairie states when 
" America " is sung, the vision most frequently evoked is 
that of the " rocks and rills, the woods and templed hills " of 
the valleys and mountains of New England. With new pride 
and a new sense of duty and new hope many a son of New 
Hampshire and many a son's son would say : 

" And I am of New England. 
Out of her sturdy granite rock, 
Sinew and blood and brain I came." 

In this spirit, representing New Hampshire's children's 
children, returning to the state and the city where for gener- 
ations my forefathers lived, I bring a hearty tribute to the 
old Granite State, most honored and most dear. 



I believe our ancestors, the pioneers of our town and of 
our state, fulfilled in large measure their mission to make 
here ideal homes for themselves and their descendants. It 
was a great undertaking. As Mr. Webster said of them : 
" They fought the enemy, they fought the inclemency of the 
weather, and they struggled with the soil." Nothing but 
stern necessity and their indomitable purpose carried them 
through. 

In speaking of the dire necessity which forced our fore- 
fathers to do the work they did, reminds us of the story of 
the country boy who was boasting of the prowess of his dog 
in chasing a woodchuck. The dog got between the animal 
and its hole, so that it was compelled to run for dear life. 
The dog was rapidly gaining ground when the woodchuck 
came to a tree, which it immediately climbed. " But," said 
the listener, " woodchucks can't climb trees." " I know 
they can't," replied the boy, " but, you see, this one had to." 
That, said my friend, was the way with the first settlers of 
this country, — they had to. 

PROF. E, H, RUSSELL, WORCESTER, MASS. 



MISCELLANEOUS SERVICES. 



COMMUNION SERVICE. 



A COMMUNION SERMON. 

R. M. PATTERSON, D.D. 

As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among 
the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit 
was sweet to my taste. — Solomon's Song ii. 3. 

In several passages of this book the apple-tree is used to 
illustrate the benefits derived by the believer from the Beloved 
One. They show that the fruit was golden-colored, fragrant, 
and sweet, and that the tree was shady and beautiful. It is 
thought that the special tree referred to is the citron. " It is 
a large and beautiful tree ; it is always green ; it is very fra- 
grant ; it gives a deep and refreshing shade ; and it is laden 
with golden-colored fruit." How pleasant, then, it would be 
to a traveler who passed beneath it from the glare of the 
noonday sun in that Eastern land ! Under its broad-spread- 
ing branches and thickly clustered leaves he would find a cool 
shade that would protect him from the piercing rays. Always 
green, his eye could rest upon its foliage with a soft and un- 
broken satisfaction. His sense of smell would be regaled by 
a pleasant odor. And the fruit itself, with its golden rich- 
ness, would hang down to his grasp, inviting him to partake 
of it and be refreshed. 

All, and more than all, that the apple-tree thus was to the 
tired and weary and hungry and thirsty traveler, Jesus Christ 
the Beloved One is to believers. He shelters them from the 
burning rays of divine wrath. He is very beautiful to look 

453 



454 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

upon with the eye of faith ; " the chiefest among ten thousand," 
and " altogether lovely." And the spiritual food which, in the 
richest abundance, he drops into the soul is both sweet to the 
taste and strengthening and nourishing for the support of the 
divine life. 

Very expressive, therefore, of the religious experience of the 
redeemed people of Christ are the words of the text. Espe- 
cially at the communion season, and seated at the sacramental 
table, may we in the most precious manner realize their truth. 
Here the Beloved brings us to his banqueting-house, and his 
banner over us is love. Here he most touchingly and lovingly 
reveals himself to us, and gives us both shelter and quiet rest 
from the turmoil of life, and grace to revive, to refresh, and 
to strengthen us for our future pilgrimage. His is (i) a tem- 
porary resting-place in the midst of the journey ; and also (2) 
a place of refreshment and strengthening preparation for what 
still remains. 

1. Here we sit under his shadow with great delight. 

It is written that at all times " he that dwelleth in the secret 
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the 
Almighty." And, again, of this Beloved One it was prophe- 
sied, " A man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a 
covert from the tempest ; as rivers of water in a dry place, as 
the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." How sweet and 
comforting the words ! And here at the table we can get 
the special fulfilment of them. 

Sorrow, in some form, assails us every day. The waves of 
tribulation are ever rolling toward us. Storms are always 
pitilessly beating upon the world. All have come to this com- 
munion, no doubt, with some heaviness of heart, produced 
by trials to which we are exposed. " The heart knoweth its 
own bitterness " — each heart alone its own. We cannot de- 
scend to the particularization of the special difficulties and 
afflictions that we are all passing through in our different 
walks. But whatever they are, leave them altogether without 
for a little while. Let them be swallowed up in the over- 



COMMUNION SERVICE. 455 

whelming love of Christ, in the enjoyment of which we are 
permitted here to sit down. 

We do not make light of trials. But we do magnify the 
love of the redeeming God through them all and beyond all, 
however inexplicable some of them may now be ; and looking 
at their brevity compared with eternity, and at their smallness 
compared with the unutterable joys of salvation in this life 
and for the life to come, we can say that " our light affliction, 
which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more ex- 
ceeding and eternal weight of glory." And here, in the midst 
of them, is a place to which we are privileged to withdraw for 
a little while for quiet rest and shelter from their hard beating. 
Approach, then, troubled Christian friends, and "sit down 
under his shadow w r ith great delight." Approach in this 
spirit : 

Spirit of mercy! bow thine head, 

Thy pinions light stretch forth; 
Descending from thy native skies, 

Come, visit me on earth. 

I have been mourning long for thee, 

To see thee hither turn ; 
If thou wilt come, come near to me, 

I can no longer mourn. 

My weariness shall pass away, 

Nor leave a fear behind ; 
In walking with the Lamb of God 

Unbroken rest I find. 

And pleasures true shall bloom for me, 

Like blossoms fresh and gay ; 
For me shall living fountains gush 

Along the peaceful way. 

Come, then, sweet Spirit, hear and come; 

Come, Jesus, come to me; 
And when thou bidst me rise from earth, 

Let me come safe to thee, 



456 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

2. While resting with great delight from the outward strife 
and storm, we also find here fruit that is sweet to our taste. 
The Beloved One gives us what revives and refreshes and 
strengthens the soul for the part of the journey to heaven that 
still remains. How rich the fruit that in his outstretched hand 
he here especially holds down to be taken by us ! 

Coming by faith, and thus truly partaking of the bread and 
the wine, we receive anew the assurance that we are pardoned 
sinners. We receive increased grace to confirm our Christian 
habits and to quicken them in their exercise. We receive the 
earnest of eternal bliss and joy. Most precious foretastes of 
the heavenly happiness are here bestowed upon a lively faith. 
A bunch of grapes from the heavenly Eshcol is pressed by the 
Lord into the sacramental cup. We have food to eat that the 
world knows not of. 

Let us come, then, hungering and thirsting for the body and 
blood of the Lord. He will be present to satisfy the spiritual 
desires of which he is himself the author. It would be no 
feast without himself. Mere common bread, mere common 
wine, mere meeting with one another, would this sacrament be 
unless Jesus himself were here. " He must break the bread, 
if it is to nourish my soul. He must pour out the wine, if it 
is to refresh and gladden me." And we doubt not that he 
will do this. We come in obedience to his command, and we 
rely upon his promise. We will seek to commune under their 
influence, and then we will go away from the table joyfully 
and exultingly declaring : " As the apple-tree among the trees 
of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons. I sat down 
under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to 
my taste." 

THE MEANING OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 

SMITH BAKER, D.D. 
This do in remembrance of me. — 1 Cor. xi. 24. 
1. In all interpretation of Scripture we must consider the 
character and habits of the people to whom the words were 






COMMUNION SERVICE. 457 

especially addressed. While the doctrines, ethics, and the 
spirit of the Scriptures are of universal application for all time, 
the special words are not. 

2. This passage is a striking illustration of this truth. 

(a) The church to which the epistle was addressed was 
formed of persons who were in the habit of feasting together ; 
of having what we should call social suppers, in which there is 
no harm, but, rightly conducted, much good. 

(b) After one of these feasts they would take the simple 
bread and wine and observe the eucharist. As long as the 
distinction was made between the social feast and the Lord's 
Supper there was no sin. But many of them were given to 
excessive indulgence at the feast, and soon the simple obser- 
vance of the Supper which followed lost its significance. The 
social feast, instead of being an occasion of Christian friend- 
ship whereby their hearts would be better prepared for the 
spiritual communion of the Lord's Supper, unfitted them for 
that holy sacrament. 

(c) The Christians in the beginning had all the food in com- 
mon at their gatherings. The rich brought of their abundance 
and the poor of their little, and all partook together. But the 
Corinthian church had departed from this, and there were 
cliques and divisions among them, the rich feasting by them- 
selves, the poor by themselves ; and there was a marked dis- 
tinction in the supply which each class had. This it is which 
the Apostle rebukes. 

3. Many persons are troubled about observing the Lord's 
Supper unworthily. 

(a) But a sense of unworthiness does not disqualify one. 
Instead of this, it is one of the first qualifications: the more 
worthy one is the more unworthy he will feel. To feel that 
one is good enough is spiritual pride. 

(fi) A consciousness of guilt does not disqualify one. We 
come to the Lord's table because we know that we are sinners 
trusting only in the death and work of Jesus Christ. No 
matter how great one's consciousness of guilt, if he is penitent 



458 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

and is seeking strength to live a Christian life, the Lord's table 
is the very place for him, 

{c) Again, spiritual darkness and coldness of heart are not 
to keep one away from the table of the Lord, for it is there 
that Christ reveals himself. Let no self-accusing, self-dissatis- 
fied disciple remain away from the Lord's table. 

4. This will appear as we notice what the Lord's Supper 
signifies, (a) It is a memorial of Christ's life and death, (b) It 
is a symbol of Christ's work, (c) It represents the union of 
all God's people; at the table of the Lord all human souls 
are on a level, (d) Again, it represents the soul's constant de- 
pendence upon Christ for strength. Christ is the daily bread 
of life to the soul, (e) It represents the mystic union of Christ 
and his people ; he lives in them and they in him. (/) The 
Lord's Supper is a special communion with Christ, when in 
a particular manner he reveals himself to the believing 
heart. 

5. Learn when we unworthily come to the Lord's table : 
(a) When we come thoughtlessly, as to a mere form, (b) When 
we come trusting in the ordinance and not in Christ, (c) When 
we come to it as a mere memorial, and not as the representa- 
tion of a great atonement, (d) When we come to it with our 
bodies or minds dissipated or intoxicated with indulgence. 
(e) When we come to it in social pride, unwilling to recognize 
the poorest or most ignorant as a brother or sister ; there are 
unavoidable distinctions in social, financial, intellectual, and 
political life, but there should be none in the Christian life. 

6. The effects of an unworthy observance: (a) It brings 
present condemnation, (b) It hardens the heart and dulls the 
spiritual perception, (c) An unbelieving, formal observance 
is a trifling with Christ, an insult to his love. 

7. The blessedness of the Lord's Supper depends upon the 
humble, honest, penitent, receptive condition of our souls. 

8. To observe the Lord's Supper is not only a sweet privi- 
lege, but a commanded duty which no disciple has a right to 
neglect, 



COMMUNION SKR J 7( 'A . 459 

9. It is the Lord's table, not that of any man or church ; 
hence no inconsistency in any man, church, or denomina- 
tion is to keep us from its observance. If the unworthy 
partake with us, the fault is theirs, not ours. All God's chil- 
dren have a right to it ; the weaker they are the more they 
need it. 

10. We are never to allow any indulgence of our lower na- 
ture to unfit us for our higher, spiritual privileges. Whatever 
interferes with our spiritual discernment and growth, whether 
it be our money-making, our eating or drinking, our social 
pleasures, our studies, our recreations, or anything else, we are 
to give it up for the soul's sake. 



A LAYMAN'S SUGGESTIONS TO MINISTERS. 

The Lord's Supper is primarily a memorial of Christ on the 
cross in our behalf — his body broken, his blood poured forth 
for us. " This do, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me." 
It is also a repetition of Christ's own institution and initial ob- 
servance of this precise form the night before his death. In 
imitation, moreover, of the custom of both Jews and heathen, 
by which the participants in a sacrifice ate together of a part 
of it, it is a communion of (i.e., a participation in) the body and 
blood of our great Sacrifice. Still further, since so doing they 
were to " proclaim the Lord's death till he come," it is a pro- 
phecy and affirmation that Christ will reappear to take us to 
himself in his kingdom. 

In form it is a supper t over which a blessing is asked, or, as 
the other expression has it, thanks are given. And it has al- 
ways seemed to me that the method of its observance should 
conform, as nearly as may be, to the customary conduct of 
suppers generally, and especially to the conduct of " the Sup- 
per " as partaken of by Christ and his loved apostles the night 
before the crucifixion. 



460 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

As it is a religions ceremonial as well as a supper, it may be 
admissible to read or recite a half-dozen verses of Scripture as 
a preliminary to taking the bread in hand ; and it certainly is 
proper to talk pleasantly and conversationally on some topic 
suggested by such a memorial, or appropriate to such a family 
gathering, while breaking the bread or pouring the wine. But 
certainly the prayers should be brief in their form, and patterned 
after the blessings we ordinarily ask over our daily meals. In 
matter they should usually be limited to the expression of our 
gratitude to the Saviour for his atoning sacrifice for us, which 
we now commemorate ; to the avowal of our love to him and 
fellowship with him, as now to be shown by our partaking of 
the symbols of his body and blood ; and to a petition that our 
souls may now feed upon the true spiritual bread of life, that 
so our typical partaking of the loaf and the wine may find its 
fulfilment in our real participation in the great Sacrifice and in 
our real union with the risen Saviour in his nature and destiny. 
There may also be a prayer for the members of the church 
family who are necessarily absent, that they may be remem- 
bered by the Master, and, though not present with us, be fed 
with spiritual food suitable to their needs. But I can hardly 
conceive of a reason for more than a two or three minute 
prayer over each emblem. 

It being & family church gathering, it may be well, at its 
opening, to give the hand of church-fellowship to those who, 
having been received into the church by baptism or letter, are 
for the first time seated with us at the Lord's table. But this 
act should also be brief and pleasant, and of the nature of a 
greeting or introduction extended at our own tables to those 
for the first time seated there, and possibly not known to all 
present. 

Finally, a suitable hymn is a fitting close to the service, as 
per the divine precedent ; and let the whole service be brief, 
and as nearly conformed as possible to the New Testament 
description of its first observance as a supper. 

Condensed from the Journal and Messenger, 



COMMUNION SER VICE. 46 1 

EATING AND DRINKING UNWORTHILY. 

CHARLES F. DEEMS, D.D. 

To many sensitive consciences 1 Cor. xi. 27 has been a 
stumbling-block. It is a solemn passage : " Whosoever shall 
eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall 
be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." Disrespect of 
the symbol is disrespect of the thing symbolized ; as we treat 
the bread and wine, which represent the body and blood of 
the Redeemer, so do we treat him. 

But to understand the word "unworthily" we must recall 
the intent of this sacrament. It is intended to cultivate peni- 
tence, faith, and charity, and to proclaim the great truth that 
Jesus Christ by the grace of God tasted death for every man. 
If a man comes to the Lord's Supper with no penitence, no 
faith, without charity toward men, and without an earnest de- 
sire to make Christ's salvation known, then he does partake 
" unworthily." If he take the bread and wine simply as he 
would do at a luncheon in his own dining-room, he is partak- 
ing " unworthily." If he have any selfish or sinister design in 
this solemn service, he does take this holy sacrament "un- 
worthily." 

But Paul does not say, "Whosoever shall eat and drink, 
being unworthy, shall be condemned." It is not the timid he 
so warns, but the careless and profane. He knew that no 
man was, or ever would be, worthy to lift in his hands that 
which represented the immortal love of the Infinite Heart, and 
present it to his fellow-men. He knew that not he, nor Peter, 
nor John, nor any other saint, was worthy to take and eat the 
body and drink the blood. No intelligent Christian man 
comes to the table of the Lord because he is " worthy." He 
feels in his heart, if he does not say with his lips, what several 
branches of the church have in their liturgy : " We do not 
presume to come to this thy table, O merciful Lord, trusting 



462 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. 
We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under 
thy table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is 
always to have mercy," etc. 

No man could take the sacrament " unworthily" who ap- 
proaches it in this spirit. It is just because we are "un- 
worthy " that we go to the communion. Many a man who 
had no assurance of adoption, but who had repented toward 
God and had faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, has made his 
humble confession to Almighty God, and, obeying the com- 
mandment of the Lord to do this in remembrance of him, in 
the very act has received the witness of the Spirit, and been 
led into " the liberty of the sons of God." It is certainly not 
desirable that improper persons should take the sacrament of 
the Lord's Supper ; but there are many who injure their spirit- 
ual characters and diminish their spiritual enjoyment by fail- 
ing to obey the request of our dying Lord. About to die, he 
tenderly asked every man who believed that he was dying for 
the world to do this in remembrance of him. It is a most 
simple request ; the observance of it in a similar spirit would 
increase the joy and power of all who wish well the cause of 
Christianity. 

The Lord's Supper has been greatly instrumental in keeping 
his cause alive. It is the voice of all believers preaching the 
Lord's death till he come. He who believes that the Lord 
did come and die for us, and will come again and take us to 
himself, will not hesitate to regard this last request of our Lord 
and Saviour. We know no better form of invitation than that 
given by the Church of England and by several branches of 
the church of Christ in America : " Ye who do truly and ear- 
nestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with 
your neighbors, and intend to lead a new life, following the 
commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his 
holy ways, draw near with faith, and take this holy sacrament 
to your comfort, and make your humble confession to Almighty 
God." In this invitation, penitence, faith, charity, and obedi- 



COMMUNION SERVICE. 463 

ence are set forth as the constituents of Christian character. To 
promote these the holy sacrament is taken, and whoso takes it 
has the comfort of knowing that in all these things he shall be 
mightily helped. He does not profess to have never sinned, 
but he truly and earnestly repents of his sins. He does not 
profess to be perfect in his intercourse with his fellow-men, 
but in the presence of the symbol of the priceless love of the 
Saviour for man, he stands in love and charity with his neigh- 
bors. He is not perfection, but he "intends," i.e., stretches 
forward, to it. He "intends" that each day shall find him 
more and more following the commandments of God, and so 
each day shall be a new life — a life of improvement upon its 
predecessor; a life of closer following of God. So, making 
his humble confession, and calling to mind the comfortable 
words of our Saviour and his apostles, he takes this sacrament 
to his comfort. 

A man might just as well refuse to pray because he is "not 
worthy " ; or refuse to hear the Word of God, and his great and 
precious promises, because he is " not worthy " ; or refuse to 
do good unto his fellow-men because he is " not worthy " to 
cooperate with the charities of God ; or refuse to take his daily 
meals because no man is " worthy " to eat from the hand of 
God, and no man can take unto himself anything that God 
hath not given. 



WHY NOT "DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF 
CHRIST"? 

NORMAN MACLEOD, D.D. 

/ have objections and difficulties. Whatever these may be, 
there cannot possibly be good reasons for disobeying Christ's 
command. 

/ am not prepared. Why not ? For unless you are prepared 
for this, you cannot be prepared for life or death, for judgment 



464 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

or eternity. Without faith in Christ you are without God and 
hope in the world. 

I do not wish to make a profession. A profession is and must 
necessarily be made, whether you obey or disobey Christ. To 
remain away from the Lord's Supper is to profess disobedience 
and unbelief. " He that is not for me is against me." 

I am unworthy. Of what ? Is it of being saved ? Christ 
saves sinners. They partake most worthily who feel themselves 
the most unworthy to partake ; they depart richest who come 
poorest ; they obtain most who come to receive all ; and they 
go away full who come empty of themselves and in order to 
be "filled with all the fullness of God. ,, Beware of "judging 
yourselves unworthy of everlasting life." 

I have been a backslider. Jesus will heal thy backsliding. 
He who knows and hates all thy sins says, " Come to me." 

But I fear I shall fall away. Jesus, who begins, can per- 
fect his work. " Jesus is able to keep us from falling, and to 
present us faultless before the presence of his glory with ex- 
ceeding joy." " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
shalt be saved." 



A SACRAMENTAL HYMN. 

E. A. TYDEMAN. 

O Saviour Christ, the living bread from heaven, 
God's sacred gift for our redemption given, 

Be present with us now ; 
And as we call to mind thy deep affliction, 
Grant us each one thy holy benediction, 

While at thy feet we bow. 

Behold the bread now waiting to be broken, 
By thee of old ordained the constant token 
Till thou again return ; 



COMMUNION SERVICE. 465 

And as our love for thee we come confessing, 
Let all our hearts, while waiting for thy blessing, 
With holy fervor burn. 

Come as thou earnest to the broken-hearted, 
Sad with the fear that they from thee had parted 

To meet on earth no more ; 
And — our fond fears by thy dear presence chiding — 
Show us thy wounds in hands and feet abiding, 

And so our faith restore. 

Here at thy table we would see thee only, 
Not as thou wert on earth, despised and lonely, 

Deserted by thine own, 
But as thou art, the risen Lord of heaven, 
By whom our souls are saved, our sins forgiven, 

Wearing thy kingly crown. 

Then, in the joy of that transcendent vision, 
Let us go forth to meet the world's derision, 

Before its scoffing dumb ; 
Content to bear our daily cross with meekness, 
Till he who died for us in shame and weakness 

Shall in his glory come. 

Sword and Trowel. 



THE TRUE MEANING OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 

A SYNOPSIS OF A SERIES OF TALKS BY HOWARD CROSBY, D.D. 

As baptism has been perverted into the regeneration of 
which it is the sign, so the Lord's Supper was perverted into 
a real presence of Christ. Christ is present through the faith 
of the partaker ; so far his presence is real. This presence 
should not be intermittent, as our communion seasons at 
lengthened intervals suggest, but continual. 



4 66 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

It is a misnomer to call the Supper " the sacrament " ; sac- 
ramentum, soldier's oath. We are too weak for oaths. God 
vows to give us salvation. We only receive his promise. A 
later meaning of " sacrament " is mystery ; but there is no more 
mystery in the Supper than in prayer or daily life. The Bible 
calls it simply a supper, which a child can understand. " Eu- 
charist " is a good name — thanksgiving ; for where should our 
gratitude be more ardent ? 

It is not a fast, but a festival ; instituted, indeed, in sadness, 
which we cannot forget, but to us the sign of release and life ; 
the very emblems changing their meaning, telling of the sup- 
port of life, gladness of heart, pardon, removal of sin, the sun- 
shine of God's love, a Saviour not suffering, but exalted. We 
show forth his death but " till he comes " in glory. It means 
joy not only to us, but to God ; for " as a bridegroom rejoiceth 
over a bride, even so will thy God rejoice over thee." 

It is a love-feast, emphasizing Christ's love for us, and ours 
to him and to one another. Sin parts men, but in Christ we 
have brotherhood. We are to love the world, but in a differ- 
ent way our Christian brothers. " This is my commandment, 
That ye love one another." 

It is a pledge of glory, a foretaste of the marriage supper 
of the Lamb. The glory is in heaven, and we must wait for 
it, but we are heirs of it. 

" Communion " means " fellowship with the Father and with 
his Son Jesus Christ." This is a partnership, and more — sweet 
friendly intercourse, mutual confidence. We misuse it when 
we do not see these. 

We should see the divine side of Christ, in which he makes 
atonement, and the human side coming close to us. There is 
a domestic element in it, and a relation of Christ to the in- 
dividual believer. It is a means against heart-hardening, a 
means of gaining assurance, a strength and joy. 

In it God speaks to us, telling us our utter insufficiency and 
Christ's all-sufficiency ; telling us his love for the believer, and 
delight in him. It shows us the beauty of the Lord. How 



COMMUNION SERVICE. 467 

wonderfully does the Twenty-third Psalm fit it! It shows us 
the second covenant. The first was, " If man will obey me, 
I will guide and guard him." But in " the blood of the ever- 
lasting covenant " we see : " If man will trust me, I will be his 
guide and guard." 

It brings out our fellowship with departed saints ; it calls to 
memory the words of Jesus — remember is its key-note ; it wakens 
consciousness of God's presence ; it glorifies Jesus, for the Spirit 
"shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you." Our very 
sinfulness there shows forth Christ's love. We come into holy 
boldness, and are identified with Christ, in whom we abide, he 
dwelling in our souls. Here is the " everlasting consolation " ; 
here we appear " the sons of God " ; by his " will we are sanc- 
tified by the offering of the body of Jesus once for all " ; and 
as his " saints " we hear him say, " The glory which thou 
gavest me I have given them." 



COMMUNION TEXTS AND THEMES. 

REV. GERARD B. F. HALLOCK, ROCHESTER, N. Y. 

The Lord's Supper is the central act of Christian worship. 
It is a prophecy, pledge, and prelude to that "supper-table 
of the Lamb," when we shall sit down with Abraham and 
Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of our Father. 

But it is more. The time of its recurrence brings to every 
true pastor a season of hallowed opportunity. As one who 
has tried to give emphasis to this sacred season, and who, for 
preparatory service, communion remarks, and the service of 
special opportunity at the close of the communion Sunday, 
has made most careful preparation, simply for the sake of 
suggestiveness, I place in order some of the texts and themes 
that I have used, especially those which have been found 
most fruitful and which have been most blessed in the using : 



468 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

i. Preparatory service : 

Invited to the Feast. " Come ; for all things are now ready." 
— Luke xiv. 17. 

2. Communion remarks : 

The King's Guests. "When the king came in to see the 
guests." — -Matt. xxii. 11. 

3. Sabbath-evening subject: 

After-thoughts. "So when they had dined." — John xxi. 15. 

1 . The Evil Counsel. " When the morning was come, all 
the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against 
Jesus to put him to death." — Matt, xxvii. 1. 

2. The Evil Deed. "And when they were come to the 
place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him." — 
Luke xxiii. ■$$. 

3. The Finished Work. " When Jesus . . . had received 
the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, 
and gave up the ghost." — John xix. 30. 

1 . Remembrance of our Faults. " I do remember my faults 
this day." — Gen. xli. 9. 

2. Reme?nbrance of Christ's Love. " We will remember thy 
love." — Solomon's Song i. 4. 

3. Our Strange Proneness to Forget Christ. "This do in 
remembrance of me." — Luke xxii. 19. 

1. A Heart Made Ready. "And he will show you a large 
upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for 
us." — Mark xiv. 15. 

2. Chris fs Readiness to Bless Us. "What will ye that I 
shall do unto you ? " — Matt. xx. 32. 

3. The Richness of the Feast. " He brought me to the ban- 
queting-house, and his banner over me was love." — Solomon's 
Song ii. 4. 

1 . Good to Draw Near to God. " It is good for me to draw 
near to God." — Ps. lxxiii. 28. 



COMMUNION SERVICE. 469 

2. The Mount of Privilege. The transfiguration. — Mark 
ix. 1-14. 

3. After the Mountain-top, What? Work awaiting at its 
base. — Mark ix. 14-27. 

1. Duty and Obligation of Christians to Keep the Communion 
Feast. " Therefore let us keep the feast." — 1 Cor. v. 8. 

2. A Personal Question. " What mean ye by this service ? " 
— Ex. xii. 26. 

3. Fulfilling our Vows. Jacob building the promised altar. 
— Gen. xxxv. 1-7. 

1. Encouragement for the Timid. "As for me, I will come 
into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy," etc. — Ps. v. 7. 

2. Invited Closer — a Day of Communion, " Master, where 
dwellest thou ? . . . Come and see." — John i. 38, 39. 

3. Being with Jesus Shows. "They took knowledge of 
them, that they had been with Jesus." — Acts iv. 13. 

1. Love's Question. " Lovest thou me ? " — John xxi. 16. 

2. Meditation Ki7idling Love. " My meditation of him shall 
be sweet." — Ps. civ. 34. 

3. Practical Religion. " Faith without works is dead." — 
Jas. ii. 20. 

1. Pest in the Midst of Toil. " Come ye yourselves apart, 
. . . and rest awhile." — Mark vi. 31. 

2. Let us Draw Near. " Having therefore . . . boldness, 
... let us draw near with a true heart," etc. — Heb. x. 19-25. 

3. Communion Continued. " But they constrained him, say- 
ing, Abide with us," etc. — Luke xxiv. 29. 

1 . The Duly of Christians to Study Christ. " Wherefore 
. . . consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, 
Christ Jesus." — Heb. iii. 1. 

2. "In the Cross of Christ I Glory." " God forbid that I 



47° THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." — 
Gal. vi. 14. 

3. Living to Christ. " For to me to live is Christ." — Phil. i. 
21. 

1 . Christ our Passover. " Christ our passover is sacrificed 
for us." — 1 Cor. v. 7. 

2. A Dying Wish Respected. "This do in remembrance of 
me." — Luke xxii. 19. 

3. Every One's Life an Open Letter. "Ye are our epistle 
written in our hearts, known and read of all men," etc. — 
2 Cor. iii. 2, 3. 

1. Ecce Homo. " Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! " 
« — John xix. 5. 

2. Watchers at the Cross. "And the people stood behold- 
ing." — Luke xxiii. 35. 

3. The Call to Action. "Why stand ye gazing up into 
heaven ? " — Acts i. 1 1. 

1. Minds Stirred to Remembrance. "I stir up your pure 
minds by way of remembrance." — 2 Pet. iii. 1. 

2. My Substitute — Personal Appropriation. "Who loved 
me, and gave himself for me." — Gal. ii. 20. 

3. Christian Unselfishness. " For even Christ pleased not 
himself." — Rom. xv. 3. 

1 . Song of the Pilgrims. — Ps. lxxxiv. 

2. Under His Shadow. " I sat down under his shadow with 
great delight." — Solomon's Song ii. 3. 

3. The Motive. " For my sake." — Mark x. 29. 

1 . Returning to our Rest. " Return unto thy rest, O my 
soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee."— Ps. 
cxvi. .7. 

2. A Visit to Calvary. "And sitting down they watched 
him there." — Matt, xxvii. 36. 



COMMUNION SERVICE. 471 

3. My Witnesses. " Ye shall be witnesses unto me," etc. — 
Acts i. 8. 

1 . Christ our Priest. " For we have not a high priest which 
cannot be touched," etc. — Heb. iv. 15. 

2. Love for the Unseen Saviour. "Whom having not seen, 
ye love." — 1 Pet. i. 8. 

3. Christ our Pattern. " I have set the Lord always be- 
fore me," etc. — Ps. xvi. 8. 

1. Consecration. "But first gave their own selves to the 
Lord." — 2 Cor. viii. 5. 

2. A New -Year Communion — Tabernacle Building. "On 
the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the taber- 
nacle," etc. — Ex. xl. 2. 

3. Climbing Round by Round. " Behold a ladder set up on 
the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven," etc. — Gen. 
xxviii. 12. 

1. The Agony in the Garden. "And his sweat was as it 
were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." — 
Luke xxii. 44. 

2. The Crucifixion. " And when they were come to the 
place called Calvary, there they crucified him." — Luke xxiii. 

33- 

3. Be Strong. " Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you 
like men, be strong." — 1 Cor. xvi. 13. 

1 . A Joyful Approach. " I went with them to the house 
of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude 
that kept holyday." — Ps. xlii. 4. 

2. A Message First. " I will not eat, until I have told mine 
errand." — Gen. xxiv. ^^. 

3. Chiefest by Chief Service. "Whosoever will be chief 
among you, let him be your servant." — Matt. xx. 27. 



CORNER-STONE LAYING. 



CHRIST A LIVING STONE. 

R. S. MacARTHUR, D.D. 

To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, 
but chosen of God, and precious. — I Pet. ii. 4. 

We have in this verse a striking description of our adorable 
Redeemer. The term " living stone " is appropriate to Christ, 
because he hath life in himself. He is the author of life. He 
diffuses and sustains life. He laid down his life, he took it 
up again ; no man had power to take it from him. This pre- 
rogative he received from his Father. He is the conqueror 
of death. He not only gives resurrection and life, he is " the 
resurrection and the life." 

The first thought, then, suggested by this text is that Christ, 
a "living stone," is the foundation of all our hopes for time 
and for eternity. Without Christ the Bible is meaningless ; 
without Christ the world is hopeless ; without Christ heaven is 
charmless. You might as well have a summer without a gleam 
of light, without the smell of flowers or the song of a bird, as 
have a life without Jesus Christ. You might as well have a 
year without a summer — nothing but bleakness, barrenness, 
and death — as to have a life without Jesus Christ. You might 
as well have a night without a morning as to live in this world 
and die and be buried without Jesus Christ. I do not know 
what men do who have no Saviour ; I do not know of what 
they speak, when they do not speak of Christ ; I do not know 

472 



CORNER-STONE LA YING. 473 

of what they think, if Christ is not in all their thoughts. 
Christ is the glory of the world ; he is the bliss of heaven. 
Christ is the Alpha and Omega in revelation, in creation, and 
in redemption. Christ spoke and there was light ; without 
him was not anything made that was made. Christ gives 
significance, beauty, and glory to the entire Bible. We are 
told of a shield that was made in ancient times, and the 
maker so wrought his name into the substance of it that, in 
order to remove the name, the shield would have to be de- 
stroyed. So the name of Christ is written into the revelation 
of God, from the first majestic words of Genesis to the last 
love-notes of Revelation ; and in order to remove Christ's 
name and glory you must destroy this revelation of God. 
Precisely so is it to the reverent eye and ear in God's book 
of creation. The thoughtful student sees Christ's name, sees 
Christ's handiwork all over the creation of God. He may 
not, perhaps, go so far as did Hugh Miller when he declared 
that he found the cross in the rock ; but he may find the truth 
symbolized by that cross all over the works of God's hand. 

It has been said that "an undevout astronomer is mad." 
We may say that all undevout scientists are mad. There can 
be no true science which excludes Jesus Christ. You might 
as well speak of the astronomy of the world and leave out the 
sun as speak of history, philosophy, and creation and leave 
out Jesus Christ. In Christ, and in him alone, the real and 
the ideal meet. There is a great difference between a man's 
actual and a man's ideal. As are a man's ideals so, to a 
great extent, shall the man be. He can never attain to his 
ideal — it is up among the stars, and in his highest flight he 
may only overtop the trees; the ideal gleams and glitters 
beyond. But in Jesus Christ the real and the ideal are one. 
His ideal is realized. Christ was the perfect, the symmetrical 
man. We do not believe simply in the salvation which he 
has made possible, but in him as the living, personal Saviour ; 
not simply in the deliverance which lie bestows, but in himself 
as the great and divine Deliverer, the perfect and purchasing 



474 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Redeemer. This personal element in Christ's religion is one 
element of its glory. He has given us himself. We do not 
pin our faith to a statement of doctrine, but to the person who 
is beyond the doctrine. Thus it comes to pass that Christ's 
personality lies beneath and is above and around the Word of 
God, the church of God, and our own individual experience. 
Christ, then, is the true center of redeemed humanity. Christ 
is the foundation of all our hopes for time and for eternity. 
Oh, build on this divine foundation ! All other foundations 
are sinking sand. 

The second truth taught us by this Scripture is that men in 
general reject Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter was an honest 
man. He was familiar with the tendency of thought in his 
time, and he declares that men generally reject Jesus Christ. 
This is clearly taught us in the text: "To whom coming, as 
unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men." This he felt 
bound frankly to confess. This was clearly foretold by Isaiah 
more than seven hundred years before Christ was born. He 
tells us that " he is despised and rejected of men ; a man of 
sorrows, and acquainted with grief : and we hid as it were our 
faces from him." He tells us also that "he shall grow up 
before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry 
ground"; that "he hath no form nor comeliness.*' He was 
rejected in the inn ; he filled a cradle in the manger ; but even 
then a star marked a new pathway in the sky to honor the 
infant Redeemer. Shepherds, watching their flocks by night, 
heard the sweetest music that earth has ever known, on the 
night that Christ was born, when angels chanted his birth- 
song ; and wise men from the East brought their treasures of 
gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and laid them at his feet. 
Herod felt his throne totter beneath him. 

Christ has always divided the world. He makes men de- 
clare themselves ; he is the touchstone that draws worth and 
exposes worthlessness. Christ has gone through the world 
as an incarnate conscience ; still he is ever drawing poor peni- 
tents to himself, bringing them out of the lowest dregs of 



CORNER-STONE LAYING. 475 

society. Penitents who have tears to wash his feet and hair 
to wipe them — his benediction was upon such. Christ aroused 
the bitterest wrath of the Pharisees. He has evoked the ten- 
derest love and the bitterest hate. When Christ came there 
were more active demons than ever before in the world ; le- 
gions were cast out of a single man. And just in proportion 
as Christ is prominent in a man's life shall all the elements of 
evil be aroused to oppose his indwelling. This is inevitable. 
Men rejected him at his birth ; men cleaved to him at his 
birth. He separated them. He drew them with cords of 
love stronger than hooks of steel, or drove them from him 
because they would not endure his purity and power. 

And Christ is still dividing men into two classes. He has 
taught us that " he who is not with me is against me." " What 
think ye of Christ ? " This is the greatest question of time or 
eternity. That man is standing on holy ground who is brought 
face to face with Jesus Christ and with his own duty regard- 
ing the Son of God. If that duty has never been pressed 
upon you before I press it upon you at this time. What think 
you of Christ ? What will you do with Jesus to-day? 

Perhaps there are those who positively reject him. It 
seems incredible ! Why do you reject Christ ? What is 
there in Jesus that has led you to come to that conclusion ? 
How would you have Jesus differ in order that you might 
accept him ? This is a fair question. Give God an honest 
answer. Will you tell me one thing in the whole life of Christ 
which makes him obnoxious to your love and faith ? Was 
he not holiness itself ? Was he not the champion of purity ? 
When all men dragged woman in the dust, did not Christ 
stand for her ? Did he not stand for humanity, freedom, and 
right ? Did he not take children into his arms and bless 
them ? Is he not the representative of all that is noblest in 
the mind and the heart ? Has not the whole world put the 
crown of perfect humanity upon the brow of the Son of Mary 
— the Son of God ? Come to me at the close of this service 
and tell me for which of these things you condemn Jesus 



476 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Christ. What did he lack in order to secure your faith? What 
did he possess which makes it impossible for you to believe 
in him ? 

Observe, still further, that we have brought out here a 
startling contrast — God's judgment of Christ as compared 
with that of men : " Disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of 
God, and precious," or " honorable," as we have it in the New 
Version. Here, then, is God's judgment as distinguished 
from men's. It was quite a common thing for Peter to bring 
out this contrast. In one of his sermons he says, " Whom ye 
crucified and slew ; whom God raised from the dead." Oh, 
how God loved his only begotten Son ! I may not enter 
upon this region, dark by excess of light. But I do know 
that when John, who pillowed his head upon the bosom of 
Jesus, speaks about the Son having dwelt in the bosom of the 
Father, he meant much. There have been tender relationships 
between God the Father and God the Son from all eternity. 
I do not know that it is possible for God to be, if he have not 
objects of love. Love must have subjects on which to rest. 
Well, I think you ought to take Christ at God's estimate. In 
the eternal councils God chose him ; in the fullness of time 
he came as a child, and then dwelt as a man among men. 
He had come before ; there were temporary incarnations 
before, but this was the incarnation. God loved him. Here 
comes in the mystery of the cross. Christ never was so dear, 
and yet God withdrew his face from him. God hates sin. 
He must show his displeasure and wrath wherever sin is found ; 
and so he hid his face from his beloved Son. In that act I 
see more of the love of God than I can see displayed else- 
where in all revelation. Why should you not give him the 
honor which God does ? 

And now, in order to receive the blessing of Christ's life, 
we must come to him — " to whom coming, as unto a living 
stone." We see " as unto " is in italics ; in the Revised Ver- 
sion both words are omitted. It is not " as a living stone," 
but this: "to whom coming, a living stone;" and in order 



CORNER-STONE LAYING. 477 

that your feet may rest upon that stone, you must place them 
there. Perhaps you simply resist this power ; you have felt it 
drawing you. This sermon is one of the influences which 
God gives to draw you to his Son. You have been holding 
back ; you have been stiff-necked, refusing to submit. God's 
promise includes God's condition; and if you will not keep 
the condition you make it impossible for God to keep the 
promise. Each includes the other. You shall not have 
Christ for your foundation if you will not come. Come this 
very hour. Is there a follower of Christ in this house who 
has wandered ? Come back now. Perhaps, like Peter, you 
have been tempted ; perhaps the sneer of some skeptic or the 
smile of some foolish woman has made you deny your Lord. 
Perhaps in the gray dawn of some chilly morning you have 
gone out denying him, but weeping bitterly. Come back to 
him this very hour, and he will graciously receive and abun- 
dantly pardon you. 

Perhaps there are some who have never come. Come to 
him to-day, that you may know him as your personal Saviour. 
This congregation now met will never meet just the same 
again. You come, you go. We shall meet at the judgment- 
seat of Christ. Oh, if you reject him now, he must reject 
you then! This may be the turning-point. If you say " De- 
part " now, he must say " Depart " then. God forbid, for 
Jesus' sake! Christian Inquirer, 



ST. PETER'S CHURCH, CHICAGO. 

On a beautiful Sabbath afternoon St. Peter's Protestant 
Episcopal Church of Chicago laid the corner-stone of their 
new stone church on Belmont Avenue, near Evanston. The 
street near by was jammed with people, and there was a 
crowd upon part of the flooring hastily put in for the pur- 
pose. The Rev. Samuel C. Edsall, founder of the parish 



47 8 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

and still its rector, made the chief address of the occasion. 
His remarks, as reported in the daily papers, were in part as 
follows : 

"This corner-stone marks, as does a mile-stone, the com- 
pletion of one stage of progress in our parish life, and the 
commencement of another. I look back to a house, in sight 
of the place where I now stand, in whose parlors we held our 
first service on Whitsunday, 1887. I think of the year of our 
occupancy of the Clark Street store, the purchase of our lot 
on Fletcher Street, and the erection of our new chapel there. 
I see that chapel incorporated now into the present larger 
chapel-building, soon with its basement to become our parish 
house and Sunday-school room; and now about me on this 
lot are the foundations and first fair stones of the church which 
we so sorely need. We look back over seven years of work, 
of faith, and small beginnings. Hosts of faithful ones whose 
faith, prayers, energies, and liberalities have gone into the 
results of these years of labor come into my mind. Many of 
you, thank God ! I see around me to-day. Some have moved 
away into other parts of the city and country ; some have 
passed from the church militant to take their place amid the 
expectant hosts of paradise. These fair stones remind us that 
ere long it will be our privilege to worship God in a place of 
greater beauty and dignity than has thus far been our lot. Let 
us with our heart and mind push forward the work to a suc- 
cessful completion. We regret to-day the absence of our 
beloved bishop, who had hoped to lay this stone. We pray 
that with restored strength he may be with us when we enter 
these walls for worship." 

The Rev. T. N. Morrison, rector of the Church of the Epiph- 
any, and acting dean of the Northeastern Deanery, laid the 
stone, officiating for Bishop McLaren. The usual documents 
and papers were placed inside. After Mr. Edsall's address, 
Dean Morrison spoke, enlarging on the great field of work 
opening before St. Peter's parish. Venerable S. G. Clarke, 
the senior warden, spoke for the laity. 



COJxW'ER-STONE LAYIXG. 479 



FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, BROOKLYN. 

The Rev. Cortland Myers, pastor of the First Baptist 
Church, Brooklyn, worshiping for the time in the Academy 
of Music, preached on the Sabbath morning before Christmas 
a sermon appropriate to the laying of the corner-stone of their 
new church edifice. The text was from Ephesians ii. 20: 
"Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone." He 
spoke in part as follows : 

"This corner-stone and the corner-stone of the whole 
church of God is a Christmas gift. May the whole structure 
be one of the treasures opened by wise men for the incarnate 
Christ. May every passer-by hear echoing from its walls the 
angelic song, ' Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy.' 
May this temple have for its corner-stone Christ in theology, 
Christ in worship, Christ in work, Christ in character — four- 
sided, square, and perfect. May there not be one square foot 
of standing-room for the preacher who takes one verse from 
the Bible or one star from the brow of the Christ. May form 
and superstition and idolatry be banished from its worship, and 
lines never be drawn between the worshipers. Over every 
one of its nine entrances let the chisel cut that large gospel 
word, ' Whosoever.' May the electric lights be the symbol of 
purity which shall fall upon every seat and reveal the hypo- 
crite, and he be driven out in shame before purity, like he was 
in that other temple in Jerusalem. 

" This temple must send its influence into every part of this 
city and the world. Its mission is to save men and thus to 
save society and government. It shall uphold righteousness 
wherever it is seen, and stamp out iniquity wherever it may 
begin to burn. It will sing the doxology when a Tammany 
Hall, and its governor and mayor and all its allies, are buried 
beneath an avalanche of justice. It must uphold a Lexow 
investigation, and demand that it reach far enough to capture 
and condemn trotting-horse thieves and scoundrels. In the 



480 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

interest of truth and justice it must claim that the man who 
just came out of jail and went to his elegant new home came 
out too soon. It must be a part of its work in the earth to 
establish unselfishness and honesty in the business world and 
purity and justice in the social and home world. It must tie 
selfishness and monopoly to the stake and burn them. In the 
interest of the kingdom of Christ it will condemn the clothing 
and jeweling and giving dyspepsia to dogs while boys and 
girls are starving and shivering at every street-corner. May 
the influence of this great church be found for Christ in every 
part of this world! " 



DEDICATION SERVICES. 



DIVINE STRENGTH AND BEAUTY IN HOLY 
WORSHIP.* 

RIGHT REV. WILLIAM BACON STEVENS, D.D., LL.D., BISHOP OF 
PENNSYLVANIA. 

Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. — Ps. xcvi. 6. 

The occasion of writing this psalm was the removal of the 
ark of the Lord from the house of Obed-edom the Gittite to 
Jerusalem. '* On that day," says the sacred historian, " David 
delivered first this psalm to thank the Lord into the hand of 
Asaph and his brethren." It is thus linked with one of the 
most interesting events in Jewish annals. But besides its his- 
toric connection it was also eminently prophetic. The whole 
psalm which contains these words has ever been regarded as 
Messianic, and as foreshadowing the future glories of the 
Messiah's kingdom, when all the people would give unto the 
Lord "glory and strength," when all nations would "worship 
the Lord in the beauty of holiness." 

This declaration of the psalmist eminently befits this occa- 
sion. We gather to consecrate this strong and beautiful house 
to the worship of the triune God. It is a jubilant day for 
this parish, and should be celebrated with all the grand acces- 
sories of holy worship. It is the crowning act of the parochial 
work of sixty years, and embodies in its celebration more than 
half a century of precious and holy memories. 

* Dedicatory sermon preached at the consecration of St. Thomas's 
Church, New York. 

48 1 



482 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

But here a question arises in many minds: Why do we 
now consecrate a building which has been in use twelve years 
as a place of worship ? Have not the solemn services of 
these years already consecrated it and set it apart for God, 
and is not that enough ? What need we more ? To these 
very natural questions I reply that notwithstanding its long 
use it has hitherto been so encumbered by debt that it could 
not be given as a full and free offering to Almighty God. 
Furthermore, though the religious and sacramental offices 
which have been celebrated here have, in one sense, conse- 
crated this building, by reason of their hallowed associations, 
yet there was lacking that essential idea of consecration, viz., 
the formal presentation of it to Almighty God by a specific 
instrument of donation, through the chief minister of this 
diocese, and the formal laying of that bishop's sentence of 
consecration on the Lord's table. 

The consecration is a solemn transaction between God and 
the parish, as well as between the bishop and the parish — the 
parish, through its vestry and by a legal instrument, making 
the building over to God through the hands of the bishop; 
and God graciously accepting the gift and ratifying the trans- 
action by the bishop's sentence of consecration, which declares 
it " separated henceforth from all unhallowed, ordinary, and 
common uses, and dedicated to the sole service of Almighty 
God." Henceforth this edifice is no more yours, but God's. 
Given to him by your corporate and legal act, his name has 
been recorded here, his presence will be vouchsafed here, and 
each one of you, as you enter into these courts, can say with 
joyous hearts, " Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary." 

Strength is power in action. Beauty is the assemblage of 
all graces. The strength and the beauty, being connected 
with God's sanctuary, must be divine strength and divine 
beauty. In what, then, consist this strength and beauty which 
so emphasize and make distinctive his sanctuary ? 

If we recall the conversation of our blessed Lord with his 
disciples just before his ascension, we find that he told them, 



DEDIC. 1 TION SER J 'ICES. 4S3 

" Tarry ye in Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from 
on high" — there they were to "wait for the promise of the 
Father," even the gift of the Holy Ghost. With this Holy 
Ghost he told them they should be baptized not many days 
hence, and that they " should receive power, after that the 
Holy Ghost had come upon them." It may seem strange 
that men who had been the chosen companions of the Lord 
for three years, listening to his words, witnessing his works, 
beholding his life, and specially taught by him in the things 
pertaining to the kingdom of God, were not already fitted and 
prepared for their work. But so it was — there w r as something 
that they still lacked, that they were to wait for, that they 
received when the Holy Ghost came down upon them on the 
day of Pentecost and gave them the baptism w T hich their Lord 
had promised. Then they rose up strong in the might of the 
Holy Ghost ; then they received the unction which attested 
their apostleship and fitted them to be witnesses for Jesus 
unto the uttermost parts of the earth. 

This, then, was the power with which they were to be en- 
dued, this the baptism of the Holy Ghost and with fire by 
which the apostles were specifically anointed for their work ; 
that pentecostal blessing which the church has ever since com- 
memorated by its Whitsuntide services. 

The " strength," then, which is to be found in the sanctuary 
is the power of the Holy Ghost. 

This is proved by the work and office of the Holy Ghost 
in the church of Christ. To deal at large with this subject 
would require many sermons ; only a brief synopsis can be 
given here. 

1. The Word of God, which is to be read and preached 
here, derives all its power over the heart and life because in- 
spired by the Holy Ghost. He it is who makes it quick and 
powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword. Without the 
inspiration of the Holy Ghost the Bible would be no more 
effectual in the work of the moral regeneration of the world 
than the teachings of Confucius or the ethics of Aristotle. 



THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASIOX. 

2. Christ himself, as God manifest in the flesh, as the Me- 
diator between God and man, as our Prophet, our Priest, our 
King, would be unknown to us, except as an historical person- 
age, the founder of a new sect of philosophers, were it not that 
it is one of the offices of the Holy Ghost to take of the things 
of Christ and show them unto men. And as "no man can 
say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost," so can 
there be no true spiritual understanding of him, or apprecia- 
tion of his person and work, unless it is made known to us by 
the Holy Ghost. It is in the strength of that divine Comforter 
that we learn to know, to believe, to love, the Lord Jesus 
Christ ; for as Christ himself says, "He shall glorify me : for 
he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you." 

3. It is also by the influence of the Holy Ghost that the 
sacraments have any spiritual power. Aside from him they 
are only outward and meaningless signs; but in him they 
work with mighty and marvelous effect. The church, as the 
body of Christ, is made his mystical body and becomes a 
living church only by the power of the Holy Ghost. He it 
is who works on the heart of each individual member, and 
making each believer a living stone, unites and builds up these 
living stones until the whole "groweth into an holy temple of 
the Lord," " a habitation of God through the Spirit." It is by 
the Holy Ghost that " the whole body of the church is governed 
and sanctified." It is under his dispensation that the church 
is now living and moving. He is its spirit of life, of truth, of 
holiness ; these are its living forces ; and so this indwelling of 
the Spirit is the mighty strength which we see in the sanctu- 
ary. It cannot be too strongly emphasized, in this day of 
secularism on the one hand and the love of a sensuous cere- 
monial on the other, that the true strength of the church does 
not lie in its historic continuity with the apostles' days ; does 
not lie in its great creeds ; does not lie in its hallowed liturgy ; 
does not lie in its learned ministry ; does not lie in its churches 
and cathedrals — it may have all these, and yet, like the apos- 
tolic church of Sardis, have a name to live, and yet be dead. 



DEDICA TION SER 1 7c *ES. 4$ 5 

Its apostolic ministry may be apostolic in lineage and not in 
spirit ; its grand creeds may be but great petrifactions of ortho- 
dox faith ; its venerable liturgy may be but the embroidered 
cerements of a corpse ; its beautiful churches and basilicas 
may be but mausoleums of a lifeless worship. What the 
church must have, and by which only it can live, is the con- 
stant, realized, positive indwelling of the Holy Ghost. All 
our worship, all our teaching, must be subordinated to this 
divine Spirit. We must recognize him as the present Para- 
clete and Comforter, sent to us by the ascended Jesus, by and 
through whose gifts, manifold and diverse, the whole body of 
the church is governed and sanctified. 

The vastness of this strength we cannot comprehend until 
we can weigh, measure, and gauge the moral force necessary 
to renew not only a single soul, but the human race ; to break 
down the kingdom of sin, Satan, and death ; to build up the 
kingdom of the Messiah, and thus bring back a revolted 
world to God. When we can estimate the power to do all 
these things, then shall we be able in some measure to under- 
stand what is meant by the phrase, " Strength is in his sanc- 
tuary." 

But not only is there " strength " in the sanctuary for all 
these outward works, there is special strength there for the 
necessities which arise in the daily life of the believer. In the 
sanctuary do we learn that the Holy Ghost is the personal 
Comforter of the Christian in every time of trial, sickness, 
or bereavement. In the sanctuary the strength of God's 
promises comes out with intense force. In the sanctuary 
do we find the strength of divine praise, when the swelling 
voices of the whole congregation ascend as the voice of many 
waters ; and the strength of fervent prayer, when " all the 
people " with one mouth breathe the same prayers, which rise 
as a cloud of incense from the whole congregation. 

Thus I might go on and show that there is no conceivable 
strength that the soul needs which is not found in the sanc- 
tuary of the Lord. 



486 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASIOX. 

But there is beauty in the sanctuary as well as strength, and 
what is this beauty ? 

When David on one occasion was surrounded by enemies 
and cut off from access to the tabernacle service, he uttered 
this wish : " One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will 
I seek after ; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the 
days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to 
inquire in his temple." Here is the recognition of a beauty 
in the temple of God answering to what he says in the psalm 
before — " Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary." Beauty 
is the abstract term to denote any assemblage of graces ; hence 
it is used in the Bible to signify holiness, being constantly 
associated with that word as the human expression of divine 
perfection. For holiness is but another name for wholeness, 
and signifies that to which nothing can be added, but which 
blends in itself all moral perfection in its utmost harmony and 
completeness. Holiness is God's beauty ; and when we pray 
with David in the Ninetieth Psalm, " Let the beauty of the 
Lord our God be upon us," we pray that God may be present 
with us in his holiness, and impart to us the blessings which 
result from that holiness. So when we say, " Strength and 
beauty are in his sanctuary," we mean by the term "beauty" 
to declare that God's holiness — the perfection and glory of the 
divine Being — is to be seen and enjoyed in his sanctuary. 
God's dwelling in Zion made it, in the psalmist's words," the 
perfection of beauty." God's being in his holy temple made 
manifest there his strength and beauty ; and vouchsafing to 
write his name on his earthly tabernacles, he hallows every 
house of prayer, and causes all devout hearts to worship the 
Lord in the beauty of holiness. 

In the true worship of God do we find beauty in the sanc- 
tuary. Beauty in worship does not consist in grandeur of ser- 
vice, in ornamental display of dress, in the artistic richness of 
music, in the massing together of whatever can attract the eye, 
the ear, or in any sensuous pageant or bannered procession. 



DEDICA 770 A ' SER I 'ICES. 48 7 

But beauty of worship is only another term for conforming to 
the direction of the psalmist: "Worship the Lord with holy 
worship;" and is but carrying out our Lord's direction to 
worship God "in spirit and in truth." 

Hence there may be a great display of art and adornment ; 
a great function appealing to the senses only ; a choral service 
which in its sweetness and power of song shall ravish the 
cultivated taste ; a parade of ostentatious reverence and de- 
votion, without the least spirit of true holiness or the least 
spirit of truth. We see all this pomp of worship and parapher- 
nalia of outward devotion in the grand worship of heathen 
temples and before pagan deities. We see it in all its gaudy 
efflorescence and hollowness in the services of corrupt and 
corrupting churches where show and display supplant holiness 
and truth. But in the church of our Lord Jesus Christ noth- 
ing is true worship where holiness and truth are wanting. 
Hence all the accessories of divine worship should be such as 
shall cultivate this holiness and express this truth. Baldness 
of worship may be as fatal to true worship as overrichness. 
The human mind must have some outward representations of 
spiritual things by which it gets clearer conceptions of truth, 
and by which we are taught to raise our thoughts and our 
affections step by step, as by some Jacob's ladder, from earth 
to heaven ; but we must use the rounds of the ladder only as 
a means to ascend to the threshold of heaven. 

Where there is holiness in the heart of the worshiper, where 
the truth as it is in Jesus dwells in his soul, there exists beauty 
of worship such as God approves. This gives birth to the 
highest style of worship — the worship not of the body without 
the soul, the stiff ceremonialism of mechanical devotion, but 
the worship of the soul, subordinating and using the body as 
its servant and instrument, and turning all the material acces- 
sories furnished by architecture, by music, by ornamentation, 
by variety of sen-ices, into means of quickening and helping 
the true life of the soul, and thus making our worship not 



488 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

mere meretricious display or sensuous adornment, but the out- 
going of a holy heart to a holy God, and so worshiping him 
in the beauty of holiness. 

Especially is there "beauty" in the sanctuary when Christ, 
the " One altogether lovely," shines out of Zion, itself " the 
perfection of beauty." When he reveals himself there, in all 
the fullness of his grace and in all the freeness of his salva- 
tion, then indeed do we " sit down under his shadow with great 
delight," and our hearts, transported with his loveliness, ex- 
claim, " He brought me to the banqueting-house, and his 
banner over me was love." 

Let us now sum up in a few sentences the principal ideas of 
strength and beauty which are found in the sanctuary : 

Strength, in the strong doctrines, which uphold, like col- 
umns, the overarching dome of divine truth. 

Beauty, in the worship of holiness, which is celebrated 
therein. 

Strength, in the Bible, God's majestic voice speaking to us 
from the lectern, the font, and the table. 

Beauty, in the Prayer-book ritual, whereby "the King's 
daughter, all glorious within," is "clothed with raiment of 
wrought gold " when she enters into the gates of the Lord 
with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. 

Strength, in the creeds, those apostolic and Nicsean anchors 
which for over fourteen centuries have held the church fast 
to her moorings on divine truth. 

Beauty, in the Psalms, those rhythmic songs which sweep 
the whole diapason of human joy and woe, and find an echo- 
ing chord in every human heart. 

Strength, in baptism, wherein is given to the faithful the 
washing of regeneration, and he enlists as a good soldier under 
Christ's banner, in the sacramental host of God's elect. 

Beauty, in confirmation, when baptismal vows become trans- 
lated into a godly life by the sealing grace and inner working 
of the Holy Ghost. 

Strength, in the holy communion, that center of unity to 



DEDICATION SERVICES. 489 

all Christian hearts ; that one table of the Lord, one family 
which knits together the elect in one communion and fellow- 
ship. 

Beauty, in the lives of those communicants whom the Holy 
Ghost adorns with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, 
and so beautifies them with salvation. 

Strength, in the ministry, the Christ-ordained and Spirit- 
anointed power for the spread of the gospel. 

Beauty, in the glorious results of this ministry, as it turns 
this sin-cursed earth into a garden of the Lord. 

Strength, in the faith that is born in the sanctuary — that 
faith which overcomes the world. 

Beauty, in the graces of character that effloresce out of 
this faith and make the life beautiful in the adornments of 
Christ's own comeliness. 

Again I ask, Who can measure this strength ? Who can 
unfold this beauty ? It is the strength of God brought down 
to man, it is the beauty of God revealed to man ; and its 
special sphere and place of manifestation is his sanctuary, the 
church of the living God. 

So, then, these two words," strength" and "beauty," the cor- 
relative terms of spiritual power and holiness, represent the 
great work of the Holy Ghost in the church of God. That 
is the work which he is to do within these walls. You already 
have material strength and beauty in the substance and solid- 
ity of your edifice, and in the ornaments and appointments 
wherewith it is embellished. It is strong and it is beautiful 
as the work of a human architect. What we want now is that 
the life within these walls — the living stones — may be built up 
by the divine Architect, the Holy Ghost, into a living temple ; 
built up as noiselessly as was the temple of Solomon, when 
" neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron was heard in the 
house, while it was in building " ; and built up so beautifully 
that there shall be in the completed character "no spot, nor 
wrinkle, nor any such thing." 

We welcome you to-day, then, rector, vestry, and congre- 



49 O THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

gation of St. Thomas's parish, to the strength and the beauty 
of this now consecrated and God-accepted church. 

Here you will find everything that can give strength to 
heart and life : the strength of will to work for Christ ; the 
strength of nerve to suffer for Christ ; the strength of faith to 
cling to Christ ; the strength of love to live for Christ. 

We bid you welcome to all that can give beauty to your 
heart and life : the beauty of a consecrated life ; the beauty 
of a sanctified intellect ; the beauty of Christian charity ; the 
beauty of a meek and quiet spirit ; the beauty of a daily walk 
with Jesus ; and a daily progress, as children of light, in that 
pathway of the just which " shineth more and more unto the 
perfect day." 

I congratulate you, dear brother, on this completed church. 
God has spared you over a quarter of a century to go in and 
out before this parish, in the old church and in the new, as 
their beloved and now venerated rector. When you preached 
your first sermon within these walls, over twelve years ago, 
you said : " Please God to hasten that day for the noble con- 
secration office, when the top-stone of the tower shall say, ' It 
is complete ;' when every resounding tongue in the belfry shall 
say, ' It is complete ; ' when every tuneful key in the organ 
shall say, 'It is complete;' when even the rectory and the 
cloisters shall unite in the jubilee of thanksgiving over a 
worthy offering and a finished work." This your prayer, dear 
brother, has been answered, and to-day the voice of this con- 
secration service proclaims through all these aisles and in all 
these arches and from turret to corner-stone, " Grace, grace 
unto it." 

Nearly sixty years ago the first bishop of Pennsylvania, the 
venerable Bishop White, laid the corner-stone of your first 
edifice at the corner of Broadway and Houston Street, in what 
was then a rural suburb of the city ; and now again another 
bishop of Pennsylvania preaches the consecration sermon on 
the completion of this magnificent pile of buildings. But what 
a change in the parish, in the state of the church, in the city, 



DEDICATION SERVICES. 491 

in the nation, is embraced between these points ! Life, 
growth, expansion, mark each one of these sixty years. Nor 
will we stop here. The gathered momentum of the past 
years will only accelerate still more our advance in the 
future, and the next threescore years will witness changes 
and growth in church life and church work and church 
power which will far outstrip what has been done between 
1823 and 1883. 

Solomon closed the prayer with which he dedicated the 
temple with these words : " Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, 
thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attent unto the prayer 
that is made in this place. Now therefore arise, O Lord God, 
into thy resting-place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let 
thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let 
thy saints rejoice in goodness." 

Such in spirit is our prayer to-day. Make this house, O 
Lord God, thy resting-place. Let the ark of thy strength, 
before which thine enemies were scattered, abide here in the 
plenitude of spiritual power: the power of thy holy law, as 
emblemized in the two tables of stone which were in the ark ; 
the power of thy life-sustaining Word, as represented by the 
golden pot of manna ; the power of an apostolic ministry, as 
typified by Aaron's rod that budded. Let all that this ark of 
the Lord represented in type abide here in fact and in power. 
Let the Christian priesthood which ministers here, like the 
Levitical priesthood of the temple, be clothed with salvation, 
ever showing forth the sacrificial death of Christ, as well as 
his perfect life in all its divine glory and beauty ; and let thy 
saints, thy devout people, who worship here, ever rejoice in 
God's goodness, and shout aloud his praises in the beauty of 
holiness. Thus shall the services of this house prepare us for 
the higher services of the house not made with hands, eternal 
in the heavens ; and may this edifice prove to many successive 
generations of worshipers, as they pass in long procession 
through these courts, none other but the house of God and 
the very gate of heaven. 



492 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 



DEDICATION OF EMBURY CHAPEL, BROOKLYN. 

Embury Memorial M. E. Chapel was the scene, December 
23, 1894, of the important and impressive ceremony of formal 
dedication. Bishop E. G. Andrews, of New York, preached 
in the morning from Matthew xxv. 15, reading from Philip 
Embury's Bible : " And unto one he gave five talents, to an- 
other two, and to another one ; to every man according to his 
several ability ; and straightway took his journey." He said 
in part : 

"When the Lord spoke those words his disciples were fit- 
ting themselves for a special work. A certain sum of money 
represented a talent in those days, but to-day it is not neces- 
sarily money that makes a talent. There are two parts to the 
parable — the rule of distribution and the rule of accounta- 
bility ; but I shall deal only with the first. 

" Men are not all alike in their qualities. Some are dull of 
apprehension, while others are of quick perception — have re- 
tentive memories. Some men have great sagacity — reach 
straight conclusions; some — plain men, we might term them 
— have talents which they assiduously develop, reaching con- 
clusions at which many men of genius are not able to arrive. 
Napoleon, William Pitt, John Stuart Mill, and others, were men 
whom God predestined to be leaders, their greatness manifest- 
ing itself in early life. In other men, great, masterful qualities 
do not show themselves until after long delay. Without the 
Civil War this country would have had no General Grant, but 
Galena would still have had its tanner. God's mode of dis- 
tribution is his right, as all belongs to him. He knows what 
is best. It has been truthfully said that it takes all kinds of 
people to make up a world. So it takes all kinds of people to 
make a church. The building is not in the true sense the 
church. It is the people, with hearts true to God. 

" In such a church as this there should be a clear appre- 
hension of what God wishes you to do. Let us be broad in 



DEDICATION SERVICES. 493 

our ideas, patient with our brothers and sisters. It is not the 
one that is conspicuous in the church who does the most 
good. The plain people are a power. What our great Task- 
master wants of us is fidelity. He does not want achieve- 
ments. He can make great men. He is after faithful souls. 

" I congratulate the people upon their beautiful new house 
of worship, and hope God will abundantly bless them in all 
their efforts for his cause." 

The Rev. Dr. Park Buell, dean of the Boston University, 
pronounced the benediction. 

At 2.30 in the afternoon a platform meeting was held. 
John E. Searles, president of the Brooklyn Church Society, 
presided. In a brief address he said the scene before him 
reminded him of one recorded in the Bible, which took place 
three thousand years ago, when Solomon moved into the 
temple he had built from the tabernacle. The Rev. George 
P. Mains, secretary of the society, C. F. Jones of the Sumner 
Avenue church, and William Harkness of the Hanson Place 
church, each made a short address of congratulation. 

At 6.30 there was an Epworth League meeting, led by How- 
ard Merlin. At 7.30 the Rev. Dr. George Edward Reed, 
president of Dickinson College, preached from Luke vii. 5 : 
" He loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue." 
He said in part: 

" My theme is, The Blessings Coming to Men through 
their Associations with the House of God. He who uses his 
money or his talents in the building and maintenance of 
Christian churches does the very best thing for himself : First, 
because in so doing he secures for himself the approval of his 
own conscience, in that he makes a generous use of at least a 
portion of his wealth. Second, because he secures thereby a 
good measure of public good will, in that he uses his wealth 
unselfishly. The working-man does not object to the capitalist 
because he has wealth, but because too often he fails to use it 
unselfishly and for the public good. Third, he secures through 
his public spirit, in providing for the common good, a warm 



494 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

place in the hearts of men who share his bounty — a thing of far 
greater moment than most people are willing to admit. 

" Great benefits are conferred by the churches upon com- 
munities in the educational advantages they afford, the moral 
life they impart, the basial influence they exert, and the power 
of their associations upon individual lives in the formation of 
character. Every man is greatly influenced by the churches 
with which in early life he himself has been connected. May 
all blessings be the heritage of all by whose labors and sacri- 
fices the magnificent Embury memorial enterprise has been 
brought to its glorious consummation ! " 



DEDICATION SERMON FOR BETHESDA 
PEOPLE'S CHURCH, BROOKLYN. 

A. J. F. BEHRENDS, D.D. 

I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me : 
behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia ; this man was born there. And 
of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her : and the 
Highest himself shall establish her. The Lord shall count, when he 
writeth up the people, that this man was born there. As well the 
singers as the players on instruments shall be there : all my springs are 
in thee. — Ps. lxxxvii. 4-7. 

All will agree that this psalm is not an easy one to explain. 
It is one of the hardest, yet, withal, one of the sweetest. It 
is broad in its view and triumphal in its tone. Its first verse 
has reference to the temple, containing the ark of the cove- 
nant, the law, the rod of Aaron, and the pot of manna. All 
its promises have not yet been fulfilled — all idols are not over- 
thrown ; but in Christ the process of fulfilment is going on all 
the time. To be a living member of the church of Christ, and 
to enjoy its privileges, is the highest honor God can confer on 
a man. In response to faith, men and women are made sons 
and daughters of the living God. All cannot have jewels, all 
cannot wear crowns. Crowns are but baubles, and, with age 



DEDICATION SERVICES. 495 

and infirmities, they must be cast aside, and the wearer and 
the pauper lie down in the grave together and the worms 
cover them both. In the gospel is found the genealogy of all 
men, the sons of Adam, the sons of God. Through the sacri- 
fice of Jesus Christ all are made sons and daughters of God, 
destined to live as long as he lives, whether in blessedness or 
ruin. Both soul and body shall have an unending existence, 
for the body is but the tabernacle of the soul. Jesus Christ 
took the power out of sin and was victor over the grave. 
The curse of the world is sin. It is no disgrace to be poor, 
no disgrace to lack culture, no disgrace to be ignorant ; but it 
is a shame for any man or woman to be ignorant when a 
Bible, which contains the wisdom of the ages, can be obtained 
for five or ten cents, or for nothing. A man is successful who 
has provided for his family, given his children an education. 
As the sons of God, destined to live forever, there is nothing 
of which we need be ashamed but sin. 

Bethesda has had a triple dedication this day. Dedica- 
tion simply means the first use of anything for the purpose for 
which it was intended, and the gospel has been three times 
heard here. I bring the " God bless you " of myself and the 
mother-church. Although I know Bethesda is a pretty big 
boy, nearly ready for a cane and a high hat, it should not 
walk alone too soon, as it might get bow-legged, like a child 
that attempts to go alone too early. The mother-church will 
always help and pray for it. 



DEDICATION HYMN. 

GEORGE F. HUNTING, D.D. 

Through all the changing scenes of life 

Our gracious God has led ; 
His shelt'ring hand has safely kept, 

His rich abundance fed. 



496 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

We bring the homage of our hearts, 
Great Shepherd, Lord, and King, 

And with united voices 
A grateful tribute sing. 

O holy God, O King of heaven, 

Maker and Monarch thou, 
Accept the tokens of our love, 

And hear our earnest vow. 

Behold this temple to thy praise, 

Make it thy very own ; 
Here knit our waiting souls in one, 

And bind us to thy throne. 

Come, Lord, and with thy presence fill 

This consecrated place ; 
Come, gather here through all the years 

The trophies of thy grace. 

" Bought with a price," Lord, we are thine, 

Thine would we ever be ; 
With loving hearts and loyal lives 

We pledge us now to thee. 



INSTALLATION SERVICE. 



INSTALLATION OF REV. J. M. DICKSON, D.D., 

As Pastor of the Pilgrim Congregational Church, 
Providence, R. I. 



Charge to the Pastor. 

rev. e. o. bartlett. 

My dear Brother : You have been called to be bishop, 
pastor, minister, servant, ruler of this people, and it is the cus- 
tom of our church — basing its rule not on the traditions of the 
elders nor the commands of men, but wholly on the Word of 
God and the practice of the apostles — on such an occasion as 
this, to charge the incoming pastor — to instruct him not only 
in regard to the scope of his ministerial duties, but as touching 
his entire conduct and life, even to the kind of medicine he 
should take if, like Timothy, he has many infirmities. And 
my embarrassment arises not alone in the seeming presump- 
tion of attempting to instruct one who comes to this people 
abundantly furnished with special intellectual and spiritual 
graces, and who, in another field, has made good proof of his 
fitness for this sacred office, but in that I am to present, how- 
ever faultily and feebly, the ideal of what a minister ought to 
be, and that, too, when here are present members of my own 
flock, who will not fail to see a wide discrepancy between the 
ideal present and the actual fact living among them, and who, 
though they would not say, in the language of Shakespeare, he 

497 



498 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Shows us the thorny way to heaven, 

Whilst . . . 

Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, 



yet who will say, " If our minister has such a high ideal, why 
don't he make nearer approach to it ? " And so, if I fail in 
this high argument, and do not reach your own high estimate 
of this sacred office, please attribute my weakness not so much 
to my fear of the charge of presumption in attempting to in- 
struct you, as to my fear of the inconsistency my friends will 
discover between my precept and practice. 

However, seeking to divest myself of the fear of man, de- 
siring only to abide under the fear of God and the guidance 
of his Spirit, I will try in a humble way to follow the Scrip- 
tures, especially the apostolic method, and describe how one 
called to be a pastor ought to behave himself in the house of 
God, the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of 
the truth. 

First, remember you are an ambassador of God. As such, 
" salute no man by the way." Esteem no man your superior, 
or rather, esteem no one as having a superior work to do. 
Yours is the highest office God has committed to earthen 
vessels. It is the most important as related to this world or 
the next; important, because you bear the message of the 
King of kings and herald the gospel that saves souls. Says 
Robert Hall : " Your employment is that of the Son of God : 
it makes no great appearance before men, but it will finally 
arise in majesty to overshadow all created glory." Paul said, 
" We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech 
[preach] by us in Christ's stead." And he urges the Ephesians 
to pray for him, that, though an ambassador in bonds, he 
might speak boldly as an ambassador of God ought to speak. 

Speak boldly, with the courage of one whose inspiration and 
authority come from heaven. Fear no man ; be under the 
dominion of no man or clique of men, for that bringeth a 
snare. Take counsel with God ; and then come into this pul- 



INSTALLATION SERVICE. 499 

pit unshamed to preach his truth, and his truth only, whether 
men will hear, or whether they will forbear. Declare the 
whole counsel of God — the unpalatable truths of revelation, its 
stern declarations, as well as its sweet and joyous and gentle 
promises and incitements to virtuous and heavenly living. 
There is a tendency in these days to present only one side of 
the gospel. The threatenings and penalties announced by 
Christ and his apostles appeal to the lower and more ignoble 
elements of man's nature, and, while the terrors of the law 
may have been used with great effect in the dark ages and in 
childhood, they are altogether futile in influencing men in this 
later and nobler era of human nature. In our day humanity 
has been lifted into a richer and broader life, and men are not 
now to be driven by fear. They can only be led by love. 
We are therefore to hold up only one side of the gospel, only 
one side of the shield of truth. It will do no good to turn the 
dark and frowning side of law and penalty, of judgment and 
punishment, though found upon almost every page of the 
New Testament. And so the pulpit must give forth a mono- 
tone of love, a pathetic strain of music, a cradle-song of 
lullaby with which to quiet anxious thoughts and dark fore- 
bodings. The preacher who would reach men and rouse them 
into action must preach only the gospel of humanity, and 
magnify only the mercy and love and holiness and beauty of 
the divine Being. He must not degrade the Source of all 
good, impugning his Fatherhood by dwelling upon his severity, 
immaculate justice, and eternal law. Now it must be admitted 
that there is in all this a grain of truth, and the change that 
lias taken place within the last twenty-five years in the religious 
taste or appetite of evangelical churches for the love rather 
than the law side of the New Testament is a real progress. 
But the pendulum swings to the other side. If our fathers 
dwelt too much upon the penalty of the law, and did not give 
sufficient prominence to the tender and emotive side of Chris- 
tianity, it cannot be denied that in our day we are verging 
toward the other extreme and presenting only a one-sided 



$00 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

gospel — a gospel of salvation with nothing to be saved from. 
It is all love and no law, all mercy and no justice. Christ 
preached a gospel of love and pardon and mercy, clearly, 
beautifully, sweetly, and most tenderly, but he also preached 
a gospel of law and penalty and retribution and judgment to 
come. I charge you to preach the whole gospel, both sides 
of the gospel, and the only way of escape through faith in 
Christ. 

And do not preach any more than the gospel. Accept the 
declaration of John Robinson to our Pilgrim fathers: "The 
Lord hath more truth and light yet to break forth out of his 
holy Word ;" for, however great the learning of our age, it has 
not yet penetrated all the depths of the Bible. But the point 
is that as stewards of the mysteries of God we are not to go 
beyond and speculate upon unrevealed and possible dealings 
of God in another world. This world holds out salvation to 
those who repent now, in this present time, and it is neither 
ours to speculate nor preach upon any possible salvation in 
another state of existence. " To-day if ye will hear his voice, 
harden not your hearts." There is no hope of reconciliation 
held out in the Bible for to-morrow, nor in eternity. It is 
now. " Now is the day of salvation." To this our commis- 
sion as preachers of Christ's salvation is confined ; and to 
this present duty of repentance and faith in Christ I charge 
you to hold all who look to you for instruction in the way of 
salvation. 

Study the Word. Know it, believe it, and preach it with 
your whole heart. It is not only the sword that can pierce 
all adversaries, it is the power that can draw all men. You 
are to stand in this pulpit not to preach philosophy and teach 
history, but to tell the everlasting gospel of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. And you are not to seek to fill these seats and crowd 
aisles by any of those inventions that would substitute for the 
direct preaching of the Word of God what are sometimes 
called popular subjects. The most popular subject, that which 
every man needs to be told, and told time and again, is his 



INSTALLATION SERVICE. 501 

utter sinfulness before God, and his immediate and absolute 
need of a divine and all-sufficient Saviour. It is the old, old 
story that can and will most intensely interest the masses of 
men. " The common people heard him gladly." And the 
way to reach the masses to-day is to hold up Christ, and Christ 
only. I care not how many " itching ears " there may be, nor 
how large the multitudes that will not endure sound doctrine, 
there is no doctrine that has such permanent interest for the 
common people as the doctrine of Christ. "And I, if I be 
lifted up, will draw all men unto me." If you would hold this 
people, and do them permanent good, and multiply their 
numbers till there shall not be room enough in these walls to 
receive them, preach Christ, and him crucified. Determine to 
know nothing among this people — preach nothing to them — > 
save Christ and the glories of his salvation ; and with the bless- 
ing of God's Holy Spirit the multitude shall flock here to the 
standard of Christ as doves to their windows. 

Be tender, sympathetic, with nothing of arrogance or as- 
sumption in your manner or matter; only that earnestness 
which comes from a hearty faith in the great truths you utter. 
Contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, 
but in a kind spirit and with a mild temper, with entire can- 
dor, avoiding all that tends to provoke and irritate, seeking at 
all times to preserve " the bond of peace." 

Do not become entangled overmuch with the secular affairs 
of the church, nor with society, nor politics, nor in writing for 
the papers. " It is not reason that we should leave the Word 
of God, and serve tables." We have something better to do- - 
something far more important ; and if you meet the demands 
of this pulpit, here making full proof of your ministry, it wi/1 
tax all your energies and all your time. I know there is much 
said about the minister and scholar in politics and at the cau- 
cus, and the duty of our sacred calling to the state and to the 
great questions that agitate our lawmakers, and that we must 
get outside of our pulpit if we would exert the full power of 
pur influence upon the times in which we live ; but, however 



502 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

this may be, there is no place where a minister can speak with 
such influence and with such authority as in the pulpit where 
Christ has placed him, and as leader of the hosts of Israel in 
the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the 
truth. And the great need of politics and of the state and of 
society and literature is the leavening power of the pure gos- 
pel ; and if we preach that and live it, we need have no mis- 
givings but that our personal influence, be it little or great, 
will be felt all through the body politic. What we need to do 
is, not to strive to make men Republicans, nor third-party men, 
nor caucus men, but Christians. Get the heart right and all 
the issues of life will become righteous, and men will think 
right and vote right and act right and legislate right, and the 
state will become right, and we shall be that great and happy 
and peculiar people whose God is the Lord and whom he 
hath chosen for his inheritance. 

My brother, the time is short, and I have hardly touched 
the hem of the garment with which this church and this 
council invests you to-night. Be a gospel preacher, a Bible 
preacher, a tender, sympathetic preacher, and only a gospel 
preacher ; be a praying preacher. Remember this people is 
your charge, and as the high priest bore the names of the 
tribes of Israel into the holy of holies, you are to bear this 
people to the throne of grace. It will be a tender thought to 
them if they know that when you are absent from them you are 
still praying for them, and that, like another Moses, you stand 
as an intercessor between God and his people. 

It is an infinitely precious truth that the Good Shepherd 
calleth his own sheep by name; so let the under-shepherd 
know his flock. Let him be a frequent visitor in their homes ; 
and, if possible, in these days of hurry, when fashion is so apt 
to override the simplicity of the gospel and dictate social laws 
to religion, pray in the homes of your people and talk famil- 
iarly with them on personal religion. There are some depart- 
ments of industry, even in these days of multiform labor-saving 
inventions, where no machinery can do the work of human 



INSTALLATION SERVICE. 503 

hands. It is so in religion. It is a personal work. Christ 
called his disciples one by one, and so he does to-day. With- 
out diminishing one particle of the power of the pulpit — rather 
magnifying it a thousandfold, as I fully believe it can be and 
ought to be — I still hold that to be effectual it must be sup- 
plemented by the personal work of both pastor and people. 

But I must close ; though, as I dwell on one theme, the 
sphere of the ministry, I seem only to have begun ; and so 
if I could embrace it all in one sentence I would say, " Be 
yourself the gospel, the living epistle known and read of all 
men." " Silver and gold have I none," said Peter to the 
lame man as he entered the temple ; " but such as I have 
give I thee." And that was all he could give. We can give 
to others only what we possess ourselves. See to it that it is 
the pure gospel, the divine light, that you possess, that, on 
walking before this people in the love of Christ, in hearing 
your voice they may hear him, and in following you they shall 
follow him who is able to keep you from falling, and finally 
present you and those he has and shall give you faultless be- 
fore the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. 



Right Hand of Fellowship. 

rev. j. h. lyon. 

My dear Brother: It is a pleasant duty that has been 
assigned to me. I have been commissioned to present to you 
the Christian salutation of the churches, bidding you welcome 
among us in the name of Christ, and assuring you of our cor- 
dial fellowship. 

We salute you as a fellow-believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and pledge ourselves to you for his sake. Because you belong 
to him we open our hearts to you, and because you come to 
speak for him we shall hear your message. 

We greet you, also, as coming to us from another denom- 
ination, and not less acceptable on that account. It is an 



504 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

honorable communion from which you have come. We have 
great respect for it. And we are glad that ministers of Christ 
can pass so freely from one denomination to another in these 
days, showing thus the unity of all true believers. It is our 
wish that you may find it pleasant to work in the Congrega- 
tional fold and among churches that embody in their pecu- 
liar organization the principles of simplicity and' freedom and 
strength. 

We welcome you because we perceive the grace that has 
been given unto you to preach the glorious gospel, and be- 
cause we recognize in the action of this church the call of 
God to do that work here in the midst of the churches com- 
posing this council. We believe that we are obeying our 
Master, the head of the church, in thus welcoming you, and 
we rejoice with this church in the evident token of the Lord's 
goodness to them, believing that they were guided by the 
Holy Spirit in choosing you as their pastor and teacher, and 
that you by the same heavenly leading have been persuaded 
to yield to their call. 

Therefore we heartily welcome you to Pilgrim Church in 
the city of Providence. Here you will find loyal followers 
of the earlier Pilgrims, who will hold up your hands. Good 
foundations have been laid here. It is an exceedingly inter- 
esting and hopeful field. Pilgrim Church has a warm place in 
the hearts of the churches of Rhode Island, and we shall 
make room for the new pastor too. We congratulate you, 
also, on coming to a church which has a flourishing Young 
People's Society of Christian Endeavor. It will make your 
heart glad, and keep you from running against the dead- 
line. We congratulate you on coming to a church which is 
honored with the presence of a retired pastor whose genial 
and holy fellowship will cheer your soul, and whose prayers 
and influence will greatly help your work. And we welcome 
you to all our churches, and to our various organizations for 
denominational benefit and general work. We welcome you 
to our homes, and to social intercourse with us in the various 



INSTALLATION SERVICE. 5°5 

walks of life. We are glad that you have come. To you 
and your household we present sincere greetings of Christian 
fellowship and hospitality. 

And as a token that we mean what we say I give you this 
living and warm right hand. You see that it is warm, brother, 
that it has blood in it, and that it has a grip. Accept it as 
the sign and assurance of our Christian fellowship. " Grace be 
unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord 
Jesus Christ." May you be filled with the Spirit. In every- 
thing may you be enriched by him — in all utterance and in 
all knowledge — so that you come behind in no gift. "God is 
faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his 
Son Jesus Christ our Lord," and unto fellowship with us his 
servants. 



Charge to the People. 

rev. alexander mcgregor. 

My dear Friends : I have been requested to address you 
briefly, in view of the new relationship into which you have, 
as pastor and people, this day publicly entered. 

Paul's charge to the Thessalonians furnishes a good digest 
of what such a relationship postulates : " We beseech you, 
brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over 
you in the Lord, and admonish you ; and to esteem them very 
highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among 
yourselves." I will not attempt any formal exposition of these 
words, but simply content myself with the presentation of a 
few informal thoughts, which I hope will prove germane to 
the occasion. First, however, let me congratulate you as a 
church upon the gift you receive this day, in the person of 
your pastor, from the great Head of the church himself. Such 
a gift the New Testament characterizes as an ascension gift, 
and therefore it is both precious and reasonable. In the Epistle 
to the Ephesians we read ; " He gave some, apostles ; and some, 



506 ' THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

prophets ; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and 
teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the 
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." Princely 
gifts these ! What a stir is made among men. when so-called 
princely gifts are made to some good cause! Not many' 
months ago, in this very city, in one of our sister churches, 
the announcement of the " Hand legacy " to the treasury of 
the American Missionary Association produced no small 
sensation. Enthusiasm ran high, and very properly so ; for 
behind the money loomed up to the vision of faith and hope 
the activities of the sowing and the reaping which the vista of 
the second century of our national existence under organized 
government so auspiciously presents. Were our eyes opened 
to see fully what the gift of a pastor from the Lord carries in 
its train we would promptly break forth into singing and re- 
joice together. David could not be restrained in the moment 
of his conscious blessing from rejoicing before the Lord, but 
broke forth into demonstrations of joy far from agreeable to 
those who could not participate in the same. Indeed, prophets 
and holy men and women of old, moved with a sense of divine 
favors, again and again rejoiced before the Lord, to the 
cadence of the Magnificat, as for substance they sang, " My 
soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God 
my Saviour. He hath holpen his servants, in remembrance 
of his mercy." For myself, also, I was brought up to regard 
services such as we have been sharers in here to-day as par- 
taking largely of the nuptial element, and so a time of rejoic- 
ing, when it is in order for the friends of the bridegroom to 
lift up their voices together and say, " How beautiful upon the 
mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that 
publisheth peace!" But alas, alas! a change has come over 
the spirit of this dream, for changed times have brought, very 
largely, changed manners. " Tell it not in Gath, publish it 
not in the streets of Askelon," that in our own " little Rhody " 
it is seemingly as easy to secure a ministerial divorce as a 
matrimonial one, which in all good conscience is saying a 



INSTALLATION SERVICE, 507 

great deal. " Pity 'tis, 'tis true," that such a state of things is 
not confined to Rhode Island alone. Of the pastoral tie, as 
of the matrimonial, it behooves us to repeat — it is sacred, and 
" therefore is not by any to be entered into unadvisedly or 
lightly, but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the 
fear of God." It is truly lamentable to see how unceremoni- 
ously, how wantonly, what we declare as "joined together of 
God " is " put asunder " by man. In this matter I fear the Spirit 
in our day loudly speaks to the churches, saying, " I have some- 
what against thee, because thou hast left thy first love." Per- 
adventure the special " reason why " for such laxity of con- 
duct may be found in the comparatively low estimate set, in 
some religions, upon the gift of the ministry, and which ig- 
nores the fact that a pastor sought of the Lord is a gift fro/u 
the Lord. When the church in any day, or in any place, in- 
stead of receiving its teachers as called, qualified, and ordained 
of God to this service, assumes to be as master to servant, 
offering its "penny," which may be continued or withdrawn 
at pleasure, then it introduces what will infallibly poison all 
spiritual life and reduce the fellowship of the church with its 
teachers from the spiritual to a mercantile basis. But, breth- 
ren, we are persuaded better things of you, as we know your 
willingness to suffer the word of exhortation, which covers the 
ground we have sought to go over : " See that he may be with 
you without fear. ' ' 

But again, may I not presume that I commend myself to 
you when I say that the essential part of your pastor's power 
to teach and guide must be derived from your consent and 
desire to submit to his guidance ? It is only as you have life 
and health that you can bear a ministry of life. When you 
are in good condition you will call for strong meat — for the 
very nourishment which your dyspeptic mood may loathe. 
Covet, then, my brethren, to be thus prosperous in soul, and 
so our desire on your behalf will have special significance as 
with the Apostle, we say, " I wish above all things that you 
may prosper and be in health, even as your souls prosper," 



508 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

It is no light burden which is placed to-day upon your pastor's 
shoulders — to feed and guide this flock. It is not a burden for 
the shoulders of a child, and yet, if the recent deliverances of 
sections of the religious press of the land are worthy to be put 
in evidence, we are to conclude that the spirit of the times 
says that it does not desire that " days should speak, and mul- 
titude of years should teach wisdom." Were it not so serious 
a matter it would be amusing to make a study of the capricious 
taste, which is ostensibly on the increase in the churches, 
which resolves the dead-line of usefulness in the ministry of 
the Word to so variable and compressible a quantity. But a 
truce to this ; for, with open Bible in hand, days will speak, 
and that with the wisdom which is pure and peaceable, and 
declare without fear of gainsaying that "woe is to thee, O 
land, when thy king is a child." Thank God, your pastor is 
no novice, but comes to you prepared to shoulder his burden, 
having made proof of his ministry elsewhere. As a scribe 
well instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, he will, for your 
profit, bring forth out of his treasure things new and old. In 
this capacity, beloved, you will " receive him in the Lord with 
all joy, and hold such in honor." There is no call to enter in 
detail upon the duties you owe your pastor, seeing the hints 
I venture to give are less with the view to instruct than to 
"stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance." 

It will then be borne in mind that your pastor's success 
depends upon the extent to which you will sustain him by 
your prayers and practical cooperation. He has not yet to 
learn that personally he must see God's face before he under- 
takes any duty; but when he has prayed the most his spirit 
will yet the more turn to you with these words: "Ye also 
helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed 
upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given 
by many on our behalf." Such an appeal will surely not be 
made by him to you in vain. If ye stand fast in this grace 
your pastor will live, and the pleasure of the Lord will prosper 
in his hand. Not alone to prayer must your pastor give him- 



INSTALLATION SERVICE. $09 

self, but he must likewise " give heed to reading, to exhorta- 
tion, to teaching, ... to be diligent in these things, that his 
progress may be manifest unto all." This will require both 
time and opportunity, neither of which, I am persuaded, you 
will be disposed to deny him, seeing you well know that when 
he ceases to learn he will become unfit to teach. It is an 
open secret that well-fed people, as a rule, can be easily gotten 
along with ; and so it will pay not to muzzle the mouth of the 
ox that treadeth the corn. In helping to furnish his library 
with the smelting and the molding tools, depend upon it, your 
eyes will be gladdened with the legend stamped upon the 
knowledge gleaned from every field, cunningly devised by his 
hand — " Holiness unto the Lord." 

When you thus discover that in his workshop the God who 
filled Bezaleel of old with " the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in 
understanding, and in knowledge," has similarly blessed your 
pastor, you will not fear to tell him so. You have not re- 
ceived the spirit of bondage to the idea that commending him 
may lead to his thinking too highly of himself, " but the spirit 
of power, and of love, and of a sound mind," which can have 
" compassion on some, making a difference." 

In your pastor's plans and methods of Christian work you 
will cultivate the spirit of unquestioning confidence. If, in- 
deed, you should differ somewhat in judgment concerning 
these, you will at least "endeavor to keep the unity of the 
Spirit in the bond of peace." Rest assured that, in the effect 
of every church life, what the church is in this respect as well 
as in every respect, goes for more than what it does. The 
work of the ministry is his life-work, and he will live in it and 
for it intensely. Of you, from day to day, he will say, " What 
is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye ? 
Ye are our glory and joy." Moved with such motives, im- 
pelled with such a spirit, what deference is due to his feelings 
and judgment when he pursues earnestly after accomplishing 
grander things than have ever been wrought among you, to- 
ward crowning his Master with many crowns! Finally, then, 



510 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION". 

in the words of Moses to the people concerning Joshua, let 
me say to you, " Encourage him." 

This, among many other ways, you can do by regular and 
constant attendance upon his ministry, and always in the spirit 
voicing itself thus : " Now therefore are we all here present 
before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of 
God ;" by such interest in his family as will lead you to cluster 
round it in times of sorrow and of joy, as well as by a jealous 
regard for his good name at home and abroad. So do, and 
with God's blessing both he and you, in the day of Christ, 
shall have occasion to "joy before God according to the joy 
in harvest." The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you 
all. Amen. 



A CHARGE 
TO THE REV. HOWARD DUFFIELD, D.D., 

At his Installation as Pastor of the First Presbyte- 
rian Church of New YpRK City, December io, 1891, 
by Professor Duffield. 

My Son, and Brother in Christ and in his Ministry : 
With an affectionate interest in your welfare, and a deep sense 
of the responsibility of the work in which we are co-laborers, I 
undertake the duty providentially assigned me on this occasion. 
Fourteen years ago it was my privilege to unite in ordain- 
ing you to your life-work as a minister of Jesus Christ. That 
ordination was not a mere outward form or empty ceremony. 
What was symbolized by the imposition of the hands of the 
presbytery was, I doubt not, realized, and you received of the 
Lord in that holy ordinance a special gift of the Holy Ghost 
for the special work of the holy ministry. During these inter- 
vening years you have experienced the fulfilment of the prom- 
ise which accompanied your commission : " Lo, I am with 



IMS TA LLA 77 OX $£R I 'ICE. 5 1 1 

you." By his providence and Spirit the Master has been 
with you in your ministry. He is with you now, as you 
enter on the duties of this new and important field of labor. 
In the call which you received and accepted this church and 
presbytery were but his instruments, and you may enter on 
your work with the conviction that of this charge, not church 
nor presbytery, but the Holy Ghost hath made you overseer. 
Your history to this hour has been a providential preparation 
for this hour. Your descent from an ancestry who on both 
lines for half a dozen generations in this country, and I know 
not how many more abroad, learned at a mother's knee that 
"man's chief end was to glorify God" ; your knowledge from 
childhood of the Holy Scriptures and of the system of doctrine 
taught in the Holy Scriptures; your early acceptance of the 
Saviour of sinners as your Saviour, and your training, intel- 
lectual, moral, spiritual, at home and school and college and 
seminary ; your experience thus far in the ministry — these 
have been a providential preparation for this hour and. for the 
work before you. 

1. In the fulfilment of the duty assigned me I charge you to 
appreciate the dignity of your high vocation as a minister of Jesus 
Christ. Let an abiding sense of its solemn responsibilities 
continually influence and control your heart and life. 

Ever remember you are an ambassador of Christ. You 
have received a commission from the King of kings to be his 
representative, and to minister in his name to your fellow- 
men. 

You are a steward of the mysteries of God. Treasures more 
precious than silver or gold have been committed to your 
trust — " the mysteries of God," by which inspired expression 
we are to understand truths to the knowledge of which man 
could never have attained by reason or the light of nature, 
but which God hath revealed in his holy Word ; truths which, 
though revealed, " the natural man receiveth not, neither can 
he know them, because they are spiritually discerned;" truths 
pertaining to God, whom " the world by wisdom " — that is, by 



512 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

the reason — never knew ; truths pertaining to Christ, who came 
into this world which he had made, and it knew him not ; truths 
pertaining to mail — his origin by immediate divine agency, his 
spiritual nature made in the divine image, his fall and conse- 
quent death in sin, his duty to God, his immortality, and his 
destiny ; truths pertaining to sin — its ill-desert, its hell-desert, 
and the crowning truth of the divine plan of salvation from 
sin by redemption — these priceless truths have been intrusted 
to your stewardship to use for the salvation of men and for 
God's glory. 

Further, you are a bishop of the holy catholic church, 
scripturally ordained and divinely commissioned to preach the 
gospel, to administer the holy sacraments, and to take part in 
the ordination of others to the holy ministry ; an overseer of 
souls and of the interests of Christ's kingdom ; and in the ex- 
ercise of the episcopal functions of your office it is your duty, 
to the measure of your ability and opportunity, to extend that 
kingdom, to defend it, and to "watch for souls as one who 
must give account." 

And you are, once more, a divinely appointed pastor. This 
flock has been committed to your charge by " the chief Shep- 
herd." In view of these and other high functions of your 
holy office I charge you — "not in words which man's wisdom 
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth " — " take heed 
to thyself, and be thou an example of the believers, in word, 
in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." 

2. I charge you further to keep constantly in view the end for 
which the holy office of the ministry was instituted: no lower 
end, no other end, than that for which the Son of God be- 
came incarnate — to save sinners. " I came," said he, " to 
seek and to save that which was lost." Paul's first "faithful 
saying, worthy of all acceptation," is, "Jesus Christ came into 
the world to save sinners." To this blessed work let all the 
powers and faculties of your body and mind be consecrated. 
You may have other duties in other relations in life, other 
interests that are duly to be cared for, but to this great work 



INSTALLATION SERVICE. 513 

of saving men all other duties, all other interests should be 
subordinate. " One thing I do " was the motto of the model 
minister of Jesus Christ, and he " became all things to all men, 
that by all means he might save some." 

3. I call your attention particularly to the two main func- 
tions of your holy office : 

First, to "preach," to "preach the gospel," to "preach the 
gospel to every creature." The oral proclamation of the gos- 
pel is the chief means whereby Christ communicateth to men 
the benefits of redemption. 

As the central object in the gospel plan of salvation is Jesus 
Christ, to " preach the gospel " is to preach " the unsearch- 
able riches of Christ." 

As the culminating fact in Christ's redeeming work was his 
atoning death upon the cross, to preach "the unsearchable 
riches of Christ " is to preach " Christ crucified, to the Jew a 
stumbling-block, to the Greek foolishness; but to them who 
believe, the power of God, and the wisdom of God." 

As unregenerate men are "dead in trespasses and sins" — 
having no appreciation of their need and danger — preaching 
the gospel includes preaching those truths that by the accom- 
panying power of the Holy Spirit w T ill convince of sin, of 
righteousness, of judgment, and the impending doom of ever- 
lasting death. 

As the salvation of the gospel is a salvation from the power 
of sin as well as from its penalty, preaching the gospel in- 
cludes exhortation to a walk becoming the gospel of Christ, 
who died to redeem " unto himself a peculiar people, zealous 
of good works." 

As " all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and is 
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for in- 
struction in righteousness," we are therefore commanded to 
"preach the Word" "not as the word of men, but, as it is in 
truth, the Word of God." This is " the sword of the Spirit," 
and when rightly wielded he maketh it "living, powerful, 
sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing 



5U THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

asunder of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, a discerner 
of the thoughts and intents of the heart." 

But all Scripture is not equally profitable, nor is any Scrip- 
ture alike profitable to all, or to any at all times. Paul there- 
fore reminds Timothy that " a workman that needeth not to 
be ashamed " will rightly divide " the word of truth " — that is, 
will distribute it wisely, giving to different Scriptures their due 
prominence relatively to time and place and circumstance. 
Compare Paul's discourse in the synagogue at Lystra with his 
discourse on Mars' Hill to the Athenians, and you will under- 
stand how to the Jews he became a Jew, to gain the Jews ; to 
them that are without law, without law, to gain them that are 
without law. 

The intellectual and social and religious life of any com- 
munity in this age is a different thing not only from what it 
was in apostolic days, but from what it was right here a half 
or even a quarter of a century ago. Men in business recog- 
nize this and act accordingly. Men who aspire to be leaders 
in public affairs recognize it and act accordingly. And the 
minister of Christ should take into account " the spirit of the 
age " ; not always to conform to it — often, it may be, to resist 
it — but with sanctified common sense. 

The age is intensely practical, and little influenced by for- 
malism or cant or dead orthodoxy or the perf unctory perform- 
ance of ministerial duty. Jt appreciates preaching that is 
direct, unaffected, solemn, sincere ; that is adapted to the 
spiritual wants of men ; that presents the profound yet pre- 
cious truths of our holy religion not in the terminology of the 
schools, but in the language of familiar speech, and presents 
them with an earnestness due to a conviction of their vital im- 
portance, and an anxious solicitude for the salvation of those 
addressed. 

To meet the demands of your position will require system- 
atic, diligent, and protracted study — especially the study of the 
Word of God. This is our only weapon, and to wield this 
" sword of the Spirit " successfully the soldier of Jesus Christ 



INS TALL A TION SER J ICE. 5 1 5 

must know it — must know it intellectually ; must know it ex- 
perimentally — must know from his own experience that it is the 
living Word of the living God. Appropriate the best hours of 
every day, and enough of them, to preparation for ministerial 
service ; and remember that to have power in the pulpit much 
of vour preparation must be made upon your knees. 

Second, to this church and congregation you are under sol- 
emn obligations to fulfil all the duties of a faithful shepherd of 
His flock — feeding, guarding, guiding, ministering specially to 
each according to his or her special need ; strengthening the 
weak, reclaiming the wandering, caring tenderly for the young, 
visiting the sick, comforting the afflicted, presenting the con- 
solations of our holy religion to the bereaved, and pointing the 
dying to Him who giveth the victory over death. It is in the 
faithful discharge of these duties that the minister of Christ is 
most Christlike. He " came not to be ministered unto, but 
to minister " ; he " went about doing good " ; he laid " down 
his life for the sheep." At our Lord's farewell interview with 
his disciples, "knowing that all things had been given into his 
hands, and that he came from God, and went to God ; he riseth 
from supper, and girded himself with a towel, and poured 
water into a basin, and washed the disciples' feet." And he 
said to them, " Know ye what I have done to you ? I have 
given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to 
you." And he added — remember it — " If ye know these things, 
happy are ye if ye do them." " Let this mind be in you, which 
was also in Christ Jesus." 

Appropriate a due portion of your time to pastoral work, 
and cultivate such a personal acquaintance with every mem- 
ber of your charge — the lowliest and the youngest as well as 
the more prominent — that in their afflictions and temptations, 
which sooner or later come to all, they will feel that they have 
in you a sympathizing friend to whom they may tell the heart- 
bitterness "with which a stranger intermeddleth not," assured 
of your interest, your friendly counsel, and your prayers. 

Have special care for the children of the church. Aid and 



516 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

encourage those who are aiding and encouraging you by work 
in the Sunday-schools. Let preaching to the children have a 
recognized place in the public services of the sanctuary. Re- 
member that children of believing parents are members of the 
church by birth ; that they do not become members by receiv- 
ing the sacraments, but receive the sacrament of baptism in 
infancy because of their membership ; and " when they arrive 
at years of discretion, if they be sober and steady in their lives, 
and have sufficient knowledge to discern the Lord's body, they 
are to be informed that it is their duty and their privilege to 
come to the table of the Lord." 

While efforts to awaken the careless and to guide the in- 
quirer will occupy a prominent place in your public ministra- 
tions, it is the experience of successful winners of souls that 
their most effective work is in personal private interviews ; as 
one has expressed it, "his church was largely made up of 
hand-picked Christians." 

The tendency at the present day is to the fuller develop- 
ment of the practical side of Christianity — concerted endeavor 
to promote the temporal as well as the spiritual well-being of 
men. With all such effort judiciously directed you will heart- 
ily sympathize and cooperate. There is another tendency 
prevalent at the present day — to eliminate the supernatural 
from Christianity and reduce the church of Christ to the level 
of a society for ethical culture. The church of Christ is such 
a society, but it is more. It inculcates not only morality, but 
holiness ; and in its faith in the supernatural presents not only 
the most powerful, but the only enduring incentive to holy liv- 
ing. Paul's last faithful saying — that in the Epistle to Titus 
— is not the simple declaration that believers should "maintain 
good works." The faithful saying is what precedes — " Not 
by works of righteousness which we have done, but accord- 
ing to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regenera- 
tion, and renewing of the Holy Ghost ; which he shed on us 
abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour ; that being justi- 
fied by faith, we should be made heirs of eternal life." This 



INSTALLATION SERVICE. 517 

is the "faithful saying," and these the things which Paul en- 
joins constantly to affirm, in order that "they which have be- 
lieved in God might be careful to maintain good works." The 
faithful preaching and hearty reception of the doctrines of sal- 
vation by grace, justification by faith, regeneration by the Holy 
Ghost — a supernatural salvation by a supernatural Saviour, a 
supernatural recreation by a supernatural Creator — such preach- 
ing and believing leads to holiness. 

The models in your ministerial work whom I commend to 
your study and imitation are, first of all, the Master. He is 
saying to you to-night, as he said to the fishermen at the Sea 
of Galilee, " Follow me, and I will make you a fisher of 
men." With all the crafty skill of experienced fishermen 
they had toiled all night and caught nothing. By his direc- 
tion they once more cast their nets, and they were immedi- 
ately filled with a multitude of fishes. The labors in our own 
wisdom or strength will be fruitless. To be successful we 
must follow and imitate the Master. Study the manner as 
well as the matter of his teaching, in public and in private, in 
the synagogue or by the wayside, in the social circle or when 
alone with his disciples, on festive occasions and in the pres- 
ence of the dead, to scribes and Pharisees, or to publicans and 
sinners ; study his exposition of Old Testament Scripture, his 
reference to the fulfilment of prophecy, his use of proverb 
and parable, of apt and even homely illustration ; study his 
teaching not only to learn what he taught, but why it was 
that " the common people heard him gladly " ; what the secret 
of the attraction that " drew publicans and sinners near to 
hear him." And be reminded that Christ's ministry, while not 
exclusively, was mainly among the poor. The text of his 
first sermon in the synagogue of Nazareth was, " The Spirit 
of the Lord is upon me to preach the gospel to the poor." 
If preaching does not reach the poor, whatever else may be 
said of it, it unquestionably is not Christlike. 

How to reach the masses of non-church-goers, poor or rich, 
is the problem which confronts the church at the present day, 



518 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

especially in our large cities. I shall not discuss that problem. 
It will not, however, be inconsistent for me to remind you that 
while your first duty is to " feed the flock of which the Holy 
Ghost has made you overseer," it is also your duty to gather 
those who are without into the fold. The terms of your 
commission are not, " Preach the gospel twice on the Sabbath 
and once during the week to those who are willing to pay for 
it," but, " Preach the gospel to every creature." Whatever 
else is implied in this, it certainly includes this : throw open the 
doors of the sanctuary to all who are willing to enter. This 
is God's house; it has been consecrated to him, and held in 
trust by church and congregation for the promotion of his 
glory in the salvation of sinners ; and every sinner in this city, 
low or high, poor or rich, vile or saintly, and the stranger 
within the city's gates, should feel that it is his privilege to 
enter here and share the blessings. Yea, further, when in the 
parable they who were first bidden to the " great supper " did 
not come, the master of the house said to his servant, " Go 
out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in 
hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind." 
And when this was done and yet there was room, the Lord 
said, " Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel 
them to come in, that my house may be filled." The minister 
of Christ, and all who are associated with him, should make 
diligent use of all legitimate means to bring to the gospel feast 
those who are perishing through lack of the bread of life and 
the water of life. 

I have directed you to Christ as above all others the model 
whom you should imitate. And yet there are certain respects 
in which our divine Lord and Master cannot be to us an ex- 
ample, just because he is our Lord and Master, and because 
he is divine. Much of the spiritual life consists of exercises 
which have Christ for their object. In all these, and in preach- 
ing about these, Christ himself cannot directly, at least, be to 
us an example. Again, the source of his spiritual strength was 
in himself; our strength, if we have any that may be called 



INSTALLATION SERVICE. 5*9 

our own, is derived from him. How desirable is it to have an 
example whom we may safely imitate in the person of one hav- 
ing not only our human nature, but our fallen human nature ; 
knowing from experience not only infirmity, but depravity; 
not only weakness, but wickedness ; self-helpless as ourselves 
to endure trial, to resist temptation, to overcome the evil one 
without and within! It would seem as if God, in the exercise 
of his sovereign love, had raised up Saul of Tarsus to occupy 
this high position — to be to the church and to the ministry in 
all subsequent time an example in those respects in which our 
divine Redeemer could not be an example, just because he is 
our Redeemer, and is divine. Of all the saints in the calen- 
dar of the Old or New Testaments, Paul is the only one whom 
the spirit of inspiration has made it our duty to imitate. We 
are under not merely the ordinary obligation to imitate what 
is good in Paul as we should what is good in any man, but 
we are under the special obligation of an express command to 
make his life our study and his character our example. Paul's 
life after his conversion was an inspired epistle — not the least 
valuable he has given to the churches — and in your study of 
the Word study that living epistle for your instruction and 
imitation. 

Be Pauline in your theology. Paul taught no doctrine that 
is not elsewhere taught in the Holy Scriptures; but no other 
of the sacred writers has presented so fully and distinctly the 
system of doctrine contained in the Holy Scriptures, and no 
other has so illustrated and emphasized the connection be- 
tween doctrine and life, between faith and practice, between 
truth and duty. If one's theology is not Pauline, whatever 
else may be said of it, it unquestionably is not scriptural. 

Be Pauline in your consecration to Christ's service. From 
his arrest on the way to Damascus until he finished his course 
in martyrdom, his one inquiry was, " Lord, what wilt thou 
have me to do ? " And that he did, with the singleness of 
aim and the strenuous, persistent effort of an athlete running 
for a prize. 



5?° THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

To be Pauline in your consecration you must learn the 
secret of that uniquely, supremely consecrated life. What was 
it that made Paul in labors so abundant ; that enabled him 
to glory in tribulations, in distresses, in persecutions for Christ's 
sake ; to count not his life dear unto himself, that he might 
fulfil the ministry he had received of the Lord Jesus ? We 
have the secret of that grand, model life in the notable decla- 
ration in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians : " The love 
of Christ constraineth us." And again in the Epistle to the 
Galatians: "I am crucified with Christ;" "He loved me, he 
gave himself for me ; " " God forbid that I should glory, save 
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is 
crucified unto me, and I unto the world." 

Be Pauline, also, in your expectatio?i of the coming of the 
Lord. Whatever question may be raised as to the faith of 
the apostolic church on other subjects, there is no question as 
to the faith of Paul and the other apostles and the apostolic 
church in the literal return of the Lord Jesus to this earth. 
Nor is there any question that they believed that for aught 
that was revealed he might come in their day; not that he 
certainly would come, but that for aught that was revealed he 
might come in their day ; and they accordingly lived in long- 
ing expectation of " the glorious appearing." And next to the 
constraining influence of the love of Christ no single consider- 
ation was more powerful as an incentive to holy living, to the 
patient endurance of suffering, and to vigilance and fidelity in 
Christ's service. 

Make the great Apostle to the Gentiles, next to the Master, 
your model as a Christian man and as a minister of Christ, 
and when the time of your departure shall have come you 
may be able to say with him, " I have fought a good fight, I 
have finished my course, I have kept the faith : henceforth 
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the 
Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day : and not 
to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." 

And may your relation to those over whom you are installed 



INSTALLATION SERVICE. 521 

as pastor ever be such that you can say to them, as Paul to 
the church at Thessalonica : "What is our hope, or joy, or 
crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in the presence of our 
Lord Jesus Christ at his coming ? " Princeton Press. 



INSTALLATION OF THE REV. F. M. ELLIS, D.D., 

As Pastor of the Washington Avenue Baptist Church, 
Brooklyn, February 10, 1895. 

The beautiful and large edifice was filled in every part. 
On the platform was an array of Baptist preachers who were 
to take part, and in the audience were many other clergymen 
and prominent laymen. The Rev. Dr. Daniel Eddy presided. 
After the invocation, a hymn, and an anthem, the Rev. Cort- 
land Myers read the Scriptures. The opening prayer was made 
by the Rev. Dr. John H. Gunning, and the Rev. Dr. H. M. 
Gallaher preached from Isaiah lxiii. 1 : " Who is this that 
cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah ? this 
that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his 
strength ? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." 
In part Dr. Gallaher said: "More than twenty years ago — 
how time passes! — my schoolmate, Frank Ellis, preached for 
me in the old First Church in Nassau Street. His text was, 
' Mighty to save.' His sermon made a deep impression on 
me ; it sank deep ; and I made up my mind that if I ever got 
a chance I would pay him back. I have two dozen minutes 
allotted me, and I must confine my preachment to that time. 
I must throw aside the introduction, and speak of ' saved ' — 
the key-word, the hinge-word, the cardinal word. O my 
Master, how powerful to save! He saves weak people, suf- 
fering, afflicted, sorrowful people. We are not to preach 
people from hell, but hell out of people ; not to save into 
heaven, but make us heaven. There can be no heaven with- 
out good men. The thing we need most is to be saved from 



522 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

ourselves. Christ saves us by his teaching. Nothing is de- 
manded of any man which Christ did not do. He saves us 
by the things he freely gives us — who has time to go over 
them? He is Saviour, Friend, anything. He counsels us to 
cease to do evil and learn to do well. That is the great com- 
mand. Christ saves us by showing us the sweet reasonable- 
ness of God's demands, the inestimable blessings that come to 
us. He helps us all to forget our past. He saves us by the 
offering of himself, by the redemption wrought out for us, by 
his intercession. He saves us to the uttermost, completely, 
perfectly, everlastingly." 

The Rev. Dr. W. C. P. Rhoades made the installation 
prayer, and then the Rev. A. A. Cameron extended the right 
hand of fellowship, saying, among other things : " My dear 
Brother : The welcomes of this hour are but the echo of the 
past well dones. Our welcome in heaven will be the echo of 
well dones here on earth. There is a large Christian heart in 
this city that attracts men of large heart, and we thank the great 
Head of the church for sending you here. You will find here 
warm hearts and helping hands. The Baptist churches and 
the Baptist ministry form a goodly company, and we welcome 
you. We all feel you will be an inspiration." 

Rev. Dr. John Humpstone gave the charge to the pastor, 
saying in brief : " I am glad this union is consummated. I 
am called upon to charge the pastor, but I would rather do 
that which I am not set down to do — welcome him; but I 
will do that with both hands and all my heart. Why should I 
charge Dr. Ellis ? The West, the East, the South, all know 
his unusual power. He needs no counsel from me. All 
know his devotion to Christ and to missions. He comes to 
us not as a raw recruit, but as an experienced workman. I 
refuse to charge him. It would be wasted breath. But this 
much I say : Be true to the past — your own past. Be true to 
God's truth. Be true to the future. God has much light to 
bring out of his truth, Our Lord is marching on, Keep step 
with him," 



INSTALLATION SERVICE. 523 

In giving the charge to the church Dr. Eddy said : " Wash- 
ington Avenue Baptist Church does not need a charge. It 
has had the wisdom and grace to pass by the thousand and 
one boy preachers who would have been glad to fill this place 
— the veal of the gospel ministry — and get a man of mature 
years, not an unknown man, not a man without a record. 
This church has a glorious history. There are one or two 
things I should like to charge upon you. Give your pastor 
every opportunity to develop his spiritual nature. Give him 
something to preach to besides black-walnut pews. He needs 
the presence of the bodies and brains of the people. Empty 
pews make empty sermons, which are worse. Don't lower the 
standard. Don't consider your minister exclusively your own. 
Let him go abroad to build up the kingdom, wherever oppor- 
tunity presents itself, as a preacher of God and a servant of 
Christ." 

The Rev. Dr. Robert B. Hull welcomed Dr. Ellis on behalf 
of the Baptist ministry, saying he had a record of duty nobly 
performed. He was a brother known of God's people and 
beloved by them, and — he said it reverently — he was a brother 
known of the Master and beloved by him. All knew his loyal 
words for Christ and his church. All knew his ministry, and 
all indorsed the choice of the church ; and all were glad he was 
here, because all knew him and he knew all. 



YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES. 



YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. 

The Christian young people of our time have been greatly 
interested in several organizations for work auxiliary to the 
church, by means of which they have developed various forms 
of practical assistance to one another, as well as cultivated 
effectively their own Christian character and increased their 
general Christian activity. 

The Young Men's Christian Association is the oldest of these 
societies, having been first organized by Mr. — now Sir — George 
Williams, a London business man, in 1844. Mr. Williams 
formed the society for the benefit of the clerks and other 
young men with whom he came in daily contact. Many sim- 
ilar associations were soon formed, and the organization ex- 
tended to America and other lands. A jubilee convention 
was held in Exeter Hall, London, in June, 1894; it was 
reported that there were then in operation as many as 5000 
branches, with 500,000 members, in sixteen different countries. 
Queen Victoria expressed, in 1894, her appreciation of the 
national value of the organization by conferring upon its 
founder the honor of knighthood. 

The International Committee in 1894 issued the following 
additional statistics for the United States : In 1866 there were 
less than 100 Associations, with a membership of not more than 
15,000; now there are 1439 Associations, with a total mem- 
bership of 246,000. Then there was one Association building, 
valued at $u,ooo; now there are 284, worth $12,591,000, 

524 



YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES. 525 

Then the total net property amounted to $90,000 ; now it 
amounts to $14,208,043. Then there were less than a dozen 
young men giving their .entire time to the work ; now there 
are 1279 secretaries and assistants. Then less than $50,000 
were contributed annually for local, and only $522 for gen- 
eral (international and State) work ; now $2,138,000 are given 
yearly for the former, and $196,000 for the latter purpose. 
Then there was nothing done for special classes of young 
men, such as college students, railroad employees, etc. ; now 
there are 428 college associations, 96 railroad associations, 
11 German associations, 39 colored associations, and 24 In- 
dian associations. 

There are over 28,000 Bible and Bible-training class ses- 
sions for young men only, annually; 63,000 prayer, gospel, 
and praise meetings for young men only, annually; 5221 lec- 
tures and entertainments and 4045 sociables given annually; 
20,526 different students in the educational classes; 656 libra- 
ries, with 470,662 volumes; 841 reading-rooms; over 65,000 
visits to the rooms daily; 499 gymnasiums; 187 literary soci- 
eties; 12,304 situations secured annually; 266 boys' depart- 
ments. 

A Young Women's Christian Association was organized in 
New York as early as 1857, and similar societies have been 
formed in many cities, and now carry on a most important 
work in securing homes, employment, instruction, and other 
help for young women. 



FIFTY YEARS OLD. 

SIR GEORGE WILLIAMS. 

Before saying a word or two respecting the Young Men's 
Christian Association and its early history I cannot refrain 
from expressing my warmest admiration for the Society of 
Christian Endeavor, and my hearty sympathy with it. Its 
wonderfully rapid growth and very wide-spread usefulness are, 



526 THOUGHTS TOR THE OCCASION'. 

I think, almost without parallel in the history of religious soci- 
eties. May God continue to bless abundantly this instrument 
for the salvation and spiritual upbuilding of young people 
throughout the world. 

Now, with reference to the Young Men's Christian Associ- 
ation, I can scarcely say anything but what is already before 
the English-speaking world as to its origin and , development. 
I regard its beginning as the work of the Holy Spirit, who 
put into the hearts and minds of a dozen godly young men 
in a business house at 72 St. Paul's Churchyard, London, in 
the year 1844, to see what could be done to rescue from sin 
their fellow-workers. 

On the 6th of June, in 1844, the first gathering took place 
in a small room at the above address, in which it was decided 
to form "a society for improving the spiritual condition of 
young men engaged in the drapery and other trades." The 
number present at this meeting was only twelve, and the sum 
contributed — which I may term the foundation-stone of the 
Young Men's Christian Association treasury — was thirteen 
shillings. 

The infant society, upon becoming known in the Establish- 
ment, was, as may be supposed, the subject of much ridicule, 
and was regarded as altogether Utopian. We used to hold a 
weekly meeting in a room at a coffee-house in Ludgate Hill, 
for which we paid a weekly rental of two shillings and six- 
pence. 

By the winter of the same year ( 1 844) seventy members were 
enrolled, and at the public meeting one hundred and sixty- 
one persons were present. In order to show how the influ- 
ence of the young Association was beginning to be felt I may 
mention that in one business house there had been sixteen 
conversions, and a missionary society was founded which had 
raised no less than fifty pounds for the spread of the gospel. 

In the spring of the following year a second social meeting 
was held at a small hotel in the city, which three hundred 
persons attended. Addresses were delivered by an eminent 



YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES. 527 

divine, the Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel, who presided, and by- 
others. The following hymn of Charles Wesley's, which, in the 
light of later events, may be regarded as prophetic, was sung 
at this meeting : 

Saw ye not the cloud arise, 

Little as a human hand? 
Now it spreads along the skies, 

Hangs o'er all the thirsty land. 

The Association continued steadily to grow during the next 
year or two, as the first annual report will show. This opens 
with the list of twenty-two clerical vice-presidents, including 
Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Wesleyan, Independent, and Bap- 
tist ministers, all residing in London. It enlarged its committee 
of management, and employed a paid secretary — Mr. T. H. 
Tarlton. 

The Association in the winter of 1845 devised what was 
then a new form of popularizing instruction, viz., that of lec- 
tures, the first of which was delivered under its auspices on 
the 9th of December m that year ; and the practice was con- 
tinued for twenty-two years during the months of December, 
January, and February. 

The International Exhibition held in London in the year 
1 85 1 was made the means of spreading the knowledge of the 
Young Men's Christian Association's existence throughout the 
world. This was done by a very extensive distribution of 
tracts. Five hundred pounds' worth of tracts were given 
away by members of the Association. 

Five new branches were formed during this year, with one 
at Paris and one at Adelaide. The amount expended during 
1 85 1 by the Young Men's Christian Association was no less 
than ^3438, and it was at the annual meeting of this same 
year that the noble and illustrious Earl of Shaftesbury presided 
for the first time. In the following year six new branches 
were established in England, one in Ireland, one in Switzer- 
land, one in Germany, and five in America, viz., .those at 



528 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, New York, and New Orleans. 
Thus, year after year, God has continued to bless and prosper 
the work through the instrumentality of his servants in the 
ministry and in every other vocation of life, who gladly gave 
their time, talents, and money to the work. 

In 1864 the Association sustained a heavy loss in the death 
of its much-beloved treasurer, my relative and ' friend, Mr. 
George Hitchcock, the founder of the firm of which I am 
now the head. For twenty years his Christian life had been 
a bright and happy testimony to the spiritual blessings that he 
had derived from the Young Men's Christian Association, and 
he publicly stated that the Association had been instrumental 
in his conversion. 

The way in which the Young Men's Christian Association 
has since multiplied its branches and its membership, until at 
the present time it has 5109 branches, with a membership of 
nearly half a million, is of course well known to you. I am 
devoutly thankful for the extraordinary development of the 
movement in America, with its hundreds of Associations, and 
it is my earnest prayer that our Heavenly Father may gra- 
ciously continue to bless in an ever-increasing degree this so- 
ciety, which has ever striven to do everything in its power for 
the glory of God and the salvation of young men. 

Golden Rule. 

London, England. 



DILIGENCE AND ITS REWARD. 

REV. EZRA TINKER, M.A., B.D. 

Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings ; 
he shall not stand before mean men. — Prov. xxii. 29. 

The hope of a community or a nation is largely in her 
young men ; for the day is not far distant when the heavy 



YOVXG PEOPLE'S SERVICES. 529 

burdens of society must devolve upon them. Correct ideas 
of life are important, and correct habits are essential. Inade- 
quate ideas of life may vitiate all our methods, and vicious 
habits may paralyze all our powers and render our existence a 
lamentable failure. 

The curse which was pronounced upon the race, and which 
doomed mankind to toil, sweat, and weariness, in the present 
state of society is a blessing in disguise. By these toilsome 
conditions men are placed at the opening of grand careers, 
are trained and disciplined for larger spheres of usefulness, 
while the thoughtful and conscientious person finds his sweet- 
est hours amid the ceaseless activities of the present. 

The man that has nothing to do, wants to do nothing, and 
glories in his inactivity, is the most pitiable being in the world, 
and merits the contempt of all earnest, honest toilers. Every 
real man is anxious to bear his share of life's burdens and 
prove himself worthy of a place in the thought and affection 
of his fellows. 

Every young man should resolve at the outset to pay his 
way ; to add something to the already gathered increments of 
society. If you add nothing to the capital of society in thought, 
then you are a cipher ; yea, a minus quantity, a burden to so- 
ciety, a stench in the nostrils of humanity ; and it would have 
been good for you and the race if you had not been born. 

It may be that your father has been so successful in his 
business affairs as to place you beyond the necessity of toiling 
either with brain or with hand. But that fact does not release 
you from your obligation to perform your part in the battle of 
life. By virtue of your unearned increments, your splendid 
patrimony, different channels of activity and usefulness may 
be opened to you. Nevertheless the channels are there, the 
opportunities there, the obligations there. 

With most of the race, toil of brain or hand is a necessity in 
order to secure the comforts of life. The majority of man- 
kind may never get beyond that condition. Your sphere of 
activity will depend largely upon birth, education, opportuni- 



530 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

ties, aptitudes. You may follow in the very footsteps of your 
father. The farm, the shop, the mill, or the studio may be 
the place where you are to solve life's problems ; or perchance 
Providence may have selected for you a sphere suggested 
neither by your birth, education, nor surroundings. 

That farmer's boy may be needed in the thronged city to 
plan and build and direct the interests of a whole community. 
The Bedfordshire tinker may be summoned to dream dreams 
and to pour forth the wealth of his mind and heart for the 
moral and spiritual elevation of his fellow-men. That restless 
son of the tireless artisan may be led into the midst of the 
bustle and whirl of the factory or mill ; or, looking out upon the 
regions beyond, he may long for the exciting and thrilling life 
of the mariner ; or, seeking yet other fields of activity, may bury 
himself in the bowels of the earth amid the metals and the ores. 

Too much time should not be wasted in seeking superior 
fields or waiting for more splendid opportunities. Take the 
thing that lies nearest at hand. It may prove the door open- 
ing to larger and richer fields. 

Idleness is the miscreant that has led many a young man 
into the saloon and gambling-den, and ruined him for time 
and eternity. Would you have me begin at the foot of the 
ladder with all my culture and early advantages? It will do 
you no harm. If you have power it will show itself. If you 
are worthy of better things they will ultimately come to you. 

The late Henry Ward Beecher began his unique career in a 
little church in a western village, at a salary of two hundred 
and fifty dollars a year, paid in part in turnips, cabbages, and 
onions. He began there, but he did not end there. He 
began with a society of nineteen members, but he ended with 
a church of more than twenty-five hundred members. He 
began little and unknown, he ended with a reputation as wide 
as Christendom. 

Although educated at West Point, it did not harm General 
Grant to begin his military career as one of the lesser commis- 
sioned officers. Had he begun at a higher grade he might not 



YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES. 531 

have reached the highest. Years of lesser responsibility served 
to prepare him for the highest responsibility. 

Young men are sometimes crippled or destroyed by the 
multitude of their friends. Blows, storms, rebuffs, are not the 
worst things that can befall young men. A soldier is made on 
the field of battle, and not in the hours of dress-parade. The 
ore is smelted in the furnace, and the rough diamond must be 
placed in the hands of the lapidary. 

A short time since I overheard a hard-worked and sorely 
pressed mother say to her son of nineteen years, who was liv- 
ing off her meager earnings, "Joel, suppose you start out this 
morning and see if you can find something to do ? " Evening 
came, and I overheard this conversation: "Joel, what success 
to-day? " " I found a place where they wanted a young man, 
but they were not willing to pay me wages enough. I am not 
going to work for small pay." The mother gave a sigh and 
simply said, " It would be better to work for small pay than to 
do nothing at all." That stalwart young man who will sit by 
the fireside without an effort to bear his share of the burden, 
and allow his mother to toil from earliest morn till latest eve, is 
a disgrace to the family name, and is not worthy of a mother. 

It does not make so much difference from whence you came 
as whither you are going. What though Lincoln was born in 
a log cabin — he died in the White House. What though he 
split rails in his boyhood days — he did it well, and learned the 
knack of splitting rebels' heads as well. We are not so anxious 
to know who your father was as to know who you are. If you 
are brave, true, and manly, we will forgive you, though your 
father was not of royal blood. There is a place for you if you 
are made of the right metal. It may not be possible for you 
to pass to the first place in financial and business circles, but 
it is possible for you to make the most of yourself and of your 
opportunities, and to this endeavor and attainment you are 
distinctly summoned. 

The surest way to get out of a small place is to perform 
your work well while in it, 



532 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

Form the habit of promptness. If you are a clerk in a bank, 
an employee in a shop, or engaged in business for yourself, and 
there are definite hours, bend everything to the moment and 
the place. Learn the lesson which some people seem never 
to learn, of being on time. 

Ten minutes late has cost many a man his position and his 
business reputation. It may be you never knew why you were 
discharged. It was not because you were profane, not be- 
cause you drank, not because you pilfered from the till, 
but solely because every morning you were at your post of 
duty ten minutes behind the time. The world moved too 
rapidly for your feet. The hour for business has come ten 
minutes too soon. The miserable imp of delay has captured 
you, and unless you shake him off and say to him, " Get thee 
behind me, Satan," you will be crippled and finally crushed by 
the upper and nether millstones of business, for the god of this 
world knows no forgiveness to the sluggard. 

Do you see that vast establishment, seven stories high, 
stretching from avenue to avenue, and covering a double 
block? That interest was built up by a single brain which 
realized the value of time. At the early morning hour, and at 
the appointed time, and with unswerving regularity, the man 
planted himself at the centers of trade. He was there to seize 
upon every opportunity. 

Some years since I called upon a millionaire in the morning 
hours on a matter of business. Although the gentleman was 
more than seventy years of age, yet he was just as prompt in 
his office engagements as if he had been in manhood's prime. 
He glanced at his watch, then begged to be excused, as he 
must be at his office within a half-hour. Without doubt that 
habit of promptness had rendered him important service in 
accumulating the millions which lay in his purse. The same 
habit may not make you a millionaire, but it will add to your 
income and secure for you a larger place in the thoughts and 
good wishes of your neighbors. 

The Creator might have dropped fatness from the skies into 



YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES. 533 

our laps, but he has not done it, for obvious reasons. He has 
done what is better for us. He has placed all necessary things 
within our reach, and given us strength and opportunity to ob- 
tain them, and in the acquisition to add to our mental, moral, 
and spiritual resources, to enhance our happiness here, and 
to fit us for higher and sweeter enjoyments hereafter. The 
Creator has placed the gold in the mountains, the coal in the 
bowels of the earth, and the comforts of life within granite 
walls. AVe must tunnel the mountains, delve into the earth, 
seam the rock, and level the walls. Gibraltar is not impreg- 
nable. It will yield to sufficient pounding. That young man 
needs a little more of the pound in him, a little more of the 
persistence in him. 

The employee that knows not only what to do, but actually 
does it ; who makes himself interested in the prosperity of the 
firm, and who needs no watching, coaxing, urging, may uncon- 
sciously find himself an indispensable factor, and finally asso- 
ciated in partnership with the very men for whom he has 
labored. 

A well-educated, energetic farmer's boy of twenty-tw r o 
started from New England to New York to make his own 
way. When he arrived in the city he had only fifty cents in 
his purse, and no friends. As he sat upon the steps of a large 
establishment he overheard a man say to another that he 
wished he had a small boy to do errands for the afternoon. 
The young man sprang to his feet and offered his services, for 
which he received fifty cents. For two weeks he was employed 
at one dollar per day. Then he was placed at the ledger. His 
splendid penmanship made the pages fairly shine with beauty. 
In a few months he was placed on the road at a salary of three 
thousand dollars a year. To-day he has a large and thriving 
business of his own. 

Sobriety, diligence, persistency, conscientiousness, Christian 
faith, will give the highest possible success. Such persons shall 
stand before kings ; they shall not stand before mean men, 



534 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

YOUNG PEOPLE'S SOCIETY OF CHRISTIAN 
ENDEAVOR. 

The Voting People's Society of Christian Endeavor was first 
organized in February, 1881, by Rev. Francis E. Clark, pastor 
of the Williston Congregational Church, Portland, Me., for the 
young people of his own congregation. It was imitated in 
other places, and Mr. Clark published a small volume entitled 
" The Children and the Church," which explained its principles. 
The idea was quickly adopted in many churches of different 
denominations, and has crossed over seas and gone into all 
lands. The distinctive features of the Society have been (1) 
the personal obligation of each member, embodied in a definite 
pledge, for definite and specific duties, reviving the covenant 
idea of the Old Testament 5(2) loyalty to the local church in 
which the Society exists. Under these principles, Societies, in 
churches of different denominations, have been affiliated in 
district, State, national, and international conventions, which 
disclaim any control of the local organizations, but meet regu- 
larly for mutual encouragement, and furnish printed helps for 
the work. The Rev. Dr. Clark, the originator of the organi- 
zation, was made president of the United Society, and gave 
up the charge of a large church to give himself wholly to this 
work. The growth of the organization showed 35,146 Soci- 
eties in 1894, with 2,108,760 members. The organ of the 
Society is the Golden Rule. 

WATCHWORDS FOR THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.* 

JOSEPH COOK. 

Supply follows demand in history. As in recent ages there 
has been a demand for the diffusion of liberty, property, and 
intelligence, there will soon be a demand for the diffusion of 

* From an address delivered at the New York Christian Endeavor Con- 
vention, July 8, 1 89 1, 



YOCXG PEOPLE'S SERVICES. 535 

conscientiousness; and there will come slowly, and through 
much anguish of the ages, a supply. I foresee a great day 
for a scientific, biblical, and practical church. Wordsworth 
talked of an aristocracy. It will not come. Carlyle talks of 
a government of the best. It cannot be elected. Soon the 
church, and a true church, will be all the hope of the world. 
It will save the world by goodness and by truth, by practice 
and by doctrines also. 

The church needed by the American future must be scien- 
tific, biblical, and practical. It must be scientific by a reason- 
able theology ; by the absorption of all established science ; 
by intellectual supremacy over rationalism ; by mental primacy 
in literature and art ; by indisputable authority in all philo- 
sophical research ; by incisive triumph over popular crudity ; 
by the courage to think syllogistically and on its knees and to 
the thirty-two points of the compass. 

It must be biblical by the spirit of the Founder of Christian- 
ity ; by finding in the Holy Spirit a present Christ ; by a sense 
that the nations are a theocracy and our Lord the world's 
Lord ; by the doctrine of sin ; by the doctrine of the atone- 
ment ; by the hope of immortality ; by a fair and fixed gaze 
on an eternal judgment. 

It must be practical by carrying vital piety to every death- 
bed, every hearthstone, every cradle ; by enlisting all believers 
in religious effort; by sleepless religious printing; by schools 
saturated with devout science; by making human legislation 
a close copy of natural law ; by leadership in all just popular 
reforms; by righteousness as a river; by every-day integrity 
and holiness to the Lord, written on the bells of the horses, 
on bank vaults, and on the very dust of the streets ; and by 
making all secular pursuits spiritual avocations. Cromwell 
and Hampden were once on shipboard in England for the 
purpose of coming to America for life. Their spirits seem to 
stand among those of our later martyrs. 

Once in the blue midnight, in my study on Beacon Hill, in 
Boston, I fell into long thought as I looked out on the land 



536 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

and on the sea; and, passing through the gate of dreams, I 
saw the angel having charge of America stand in the air 
above the continent, and his wings shadowed either shore. 
Around him were gathered all who at Valley Forge and at 
Andersonville, and the other sacred places, suffered for the 
preservation of a glorious Republic ; and they' conversed of 
what was and is and is to be. There was about the angel a 
multitude whom no man could number, of all nations and 
kindreds and tribes and tongues, and their voices were as the 
sound of many waters ; and I heard thunderings and saw 
lightnings, but the face of the angel was above the lightness 
of the lightnings, and the majesty of his words above that of 
the thunders. 

Then came forth before the angel three spirits, whose gar- 
ments were as white as the light ; and I saw not their faces, 
but I heard the ten thousand times ten thousand call them by 
names known on earth — Washington and Lincoln and Gar- 
field. And behind them stood Hampden and Tell and Mil- 
tiades and Leonidas, and a multitude who had scars and 
crowns. And they said to the angel, "We will go on earth 
and teach the diffusion of liberty. We will heal America by 
equality." And the angel said, " Go ! You will be efficient, 
but not sufficient." Meanwhile, under emigrant wharves, and 
under the hovels of the perishing poor, and under crowded 
factories, and under the poisonous alleys of great cities, I 
heard, far in the subterranean depths, the black angels laugh. 

Then came forward before the angel three other spirits, 
whose garments were white as the light ; and I saw not their 
faces, but I heard the ten thousand times ten thousand call 
them by names known on earth — Franklin and Hamilton and 
Irving. And behind them stood Pestalozzi and Shakespeare 
and Bacon and Aristotle, and a multitude who had scrolls and 
crowns. And they said to the angel, " We will go on earth 
and teach the diffusion of intelligence. We will heal America 
by knowledge." And the angel said, " Go ! You will be 
efficient, but not sufficient." Meanwhile, under emigrant 



YOUXG PEOPLE'S SERVICES. 537 

wharves, and under crowded factories, and under Washing- 
ton, and under scheming conclaves of men acute and unscru- 
pulous, and under many newspaper presses, and beneath Wall 
Street, and under the poisonous alleys of great cities, I heard 
the black angels laugh. 

Then came forward before the angel three other spirits, 
whom I heard the ten thousand times ten thousand call by 
names known on earth — Adams and Jefferson and Webster. 
And behind them stood Chatham and Wilberforce and How- 
ard and the Roman Gracchi, and a multitude who had keys 
and crowns. And they said to the angel, " We will go on 
earth and teach the diffusion of property. We will heal 
America by the self-respect of ownership." And the angel 
said, " Go ! You will be efficient, but not sufficient." Mean- 
while, under emigrant wharves and crowded factories, and 
beneath Wall Street, and under the poisonous alleys of suffo- 
cated great cities, I heard yet the black angels laugh. 

Then came forward lastly before the angel three other 
spirits, with garments white as the light ; and I saw not their 
faces, but I heard the ten thousand times ten thousand call 
them by names known on earth — Edwards and Dwight and 
Whitefield. And behind them stood Wycliffe and Cranmer 
and Wesley and Luther, and a multitude who had harps and 
crowns. And they said to the angel, " We will go on earth 
and teach the diffusion of conscientiousness. We will heal 
America by righteousness." And the angel arose, and lifted 
up his far-gleaming hand to the heaven of heavens, and said, 
" Go ! Not in the first three, but only in all four of these 
leaves from the tree of life, is to be found the healing of the 
nations — the diffusion of liberty, the diffusion of intelligence, 
the diffusion of property, and the diffusion of conscientious- 
ness. You will be more than ever efficient, but not suffi- 
cient." I listened, and under Plymouth Rock and the uni- 
versities there was no sound ; but under emigrant wharves and 
crowded factories, and under Wall Street, and in poisonous 
alleys of great cities, I heard yet the black angels laugh ; but 



538 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

with the laughter came up now from beneath a clanking of 
chains. 

Then I looked, and the whole firmament above the angel 
was as if it were one azure eye, and into it the ten thousand 
times ten thousand gazed, and saw that they stood in one 
palm of a hand of Him into whose face they gazed, and that 
the soft axle of the world stood upon the fingers of another 
palm, and that both palms were pierced. I saw the twelve 
spirits which had gone forth, and they joined hands with one 
another and with the twelve hours, and moved perpetually 
about the globe ; and I heard a voice after which there was no 
laughter : " We are efficient, but I am sufficient." 



EPWORTH LEAGUE. 

The Epworth League was formed May 15, 1889, in Cleve- 
land, 0.,by the consolidation of five societies previously exist- 
ing in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and named after the 
home of the Wesley family in England. It is governed by a 
General Board of Control, of which fifteen members are ap- 
pointed by the Board of Bishops, and fourteen are elected 
from the General Conference districts. These act through an 
executive committee. The League publishes the Epworth 
Herald. Each local League has a pledge essentially like that 
of the Christian Endeavor Societies. There were in 1894 
more than 13,500 local chapters, with about 900,000 mem- 
bers. 

THE LEAGUE PRAYER-MEETING. 

REV. E. P. STEVENS. 
How I may show that I am a Christian. Matt. v. 16. 

This topic refers not to the inner consciousness of salva- 
tion, but to its outward manifestation. He who is consciously 
saved must of necessity demonstrate the fact in his life. It 



YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES. 539 

is impossible for one to be a real Christian and keep others 
from knowing it (Eph. ii. 10). 

1. I may show that I am a Christian by manifesting a 
Christly spirit in word and deed. Cheerful service and kindly 
words befit the Christian and bespeak his companionship with 
Jesus. Gentleness in dealing with others, thoughtful consid- 
eration of their feelings — these are evidences that the golden 
rule has found its way to the heart, and that Christ is en- 
throned within (Matt. vii. 12 ; Gal. v. 22, 23 ; 1 John ii. 6). 

2. I may show that I am a Christian by identifying myself 
with the church and willingly assuming a reasonable share in 
the responsibilities of its work. The oft-uttered " I can't " 
when service is asked can only dwarf the Christian and cripple 
the work of the church. Paul's motto (Phil. iv. 13) explains 
his fruitful life and strong Christian character. It is a good 
one for every Christian. 

3. I may show that I am a Christian by witnessing for 
Christ. The testimony of the life is necessary, but none the 
less so is that of the lips. Public confession of faith in Jesus 
Christ is demanded, that all men may know that we are his 
followers. Not simply the claim that one is a Christian 
proves one so, but not to be ashamed to own the fact — this is 
convincing (Rom. x. 9). 

4. I may show that I am a Christian by my companionship 
and associations. The true Christian will seek Christian soci- 
ety, individually and collectively. As the magnet and needle 
seek each other, so will Christians attract Christians to them- 
selves and be attracted by them. No Christian will be wit- 
tingly drawn into any association which will compromise his 
profession (Amos iii. 3). 

5. I may show that I am a Christian by the choice of my 
pleasures. In these days of intense pleasure-seeking it is well 
to " take only such diversions as may be employed in the 
name of the Lord Jesus." Earnest people have little time for 
mere pleasure, and such as they do indulge in will be innocent 
and harmless (1 Cor. x. 31). 



540 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

6. I may show that I am a Christian by being personally 
interested in the salvation of others. As Andrew sought 
Peter, and Philip sought Nathanael, so does he who has been 
saved by Christ yearn to see others saved. This missionary 
spirit is the best evidence of one's personal contact with the 
Saviour of the world. 

7. I may show that I am a Christian by living a conse- 
crated life. Time has been when it was necessary to be will- 
ing to die for Christ. Now the great need of his work is a 
willingness on the part of his followers to live for him. There 
is greater heroism required to live for Christ than to die for 
him. To pursue the business of this world, to engage in its 
social life, to face the spirit of the times and live an uncom- 
promising, positive Christian life — this is the duty of every 
Christian who is loyal to the cross. Stand up for Jesus at 
home, in school, on the street, in the counting-room, at the 
bench, behind the counter, among your companions (Acts 
iv. 13). 



ORDER OF KING'S DAUGHTERS AND SONS. 

The Order of Kitig's Daughters and Sons was organized in 
New York, January 13, 1886, Mrs. Margaret Bottome being 
chosen the first president. Its badge is a small silver Maltese 
cross, with the initials I. H. N., of its motto, " In His Name." 
It has extended throughout the United States and into many 
other countries, each circle being left free to control its own 
affairs, but all holding as their object "the development of 
spiritual life and the promotion of Christian activities." It is 
thought to number over 200,000 members, and there are 
circles known in North and South America, Great Britain, 
Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Denmark, Euro- 
pean and Asiatic Turkey, India, China, Japan, Australia, New 
Zealand, Hawaii, the Bermudas, and the Bahamas. 

The order was at first confined to women; but in 1887 the 



YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES. 541 

Sons of the King was organized as an affiliated society. The 
order issues a monthly magazine entitled The Silver Cross, 
published in New York. 

THE INTERNATIONAL ORDER OF THE KING'S 
DAUGHTERS AND SONS. 

MRS. MARGARET BOTTOME. 

The order arose through the united effort of ten women to 
make their own lives and the lives of other people better ex- 
ponents of the Christian faith than they had been able to be 
before. 

These women came together one winter day in 1886, talked 
over their project, formed themselves into a little circle, and 
chose Mrs. Margaret Bottome as their president and Mrs. 
Mary Lowe Dickinson as their secretary. In considering 
what methods of organization had been most successful they 
thought the idea of the Lend-a-hand Club a good one, and 
decided that they would try to work in circles of ten. They 
were very soon, however, obliged to abandon this idea, and 
their circles now include any number of members, accord- 
ing to convenience and community of interest. They took for 
their watchword " In His Name," and they decided on a little 
silver Maltese cross as their badge. The design of that badge 
afterward became the seal of their corporation ; hence its du- 
plication and manufacture, except as authorized by the order, 
is illegal. The order started with a few general principles, 
trying to secure great simplicity at the same time that they 
insisted upon great definiteness and upon actual practical ser- 
vice. They accepted as members, according to Article III. 
of their constitution, all who held themselves responsible to 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. They made for their ob- 
jects, first, " the development of spiritual life," and second, 
"the stimulation of Christian activities." They required a 
recognition on the part of their members of the fact that they 
belonged to God, and a purpose to serve God by entering 



542 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

upon some service to humanity. Their committal to do this 
was marked by the wearing of the little silver cross. 

While every member of the new society was thus bound to 
service, there was utter freedom as to the choice of a line of 
work. They must work, but they must choose their own field 
of labor. 

It was strongly recommended that in every case their work 
should begin at home, and so long as any member of their 
own family could by their exertions have his or her life made 
better or happier, the home was considered the proper field. 
After this they were urged to work in their own churches, to 
become to their pastors effective and practical helpers. If, 
after work of this sort was well and thoroughly done, there 
was more time and more strength, they might then look out- 
side for further opportunities, but should always take those 
nearest at hand, as it was believed that if each community 
cared for its own, the world's need of help of every sort would 
be largely supplied. In no case was it recommended that 
they should found new organizations or establish new socie- 
ties, but that they should strive in every way to add little 
bands of intelligent, consecrated workers to the work already 
being done in various benevolent fields. 

The early history of the work is overcrowded with interest- 
ing incidents and experiences, for which, unfortunately, we 
have no space. It would suffice to say that for nearly six 
years the order has grown in a way equaled only by such 
organizations as the Christian Endeavor Society and the 
Epworth League. Its membership is now between 225,000 
and 250,000, scattered throughout every continent, and in 
New Zealand, the Sandwich and Hawaiian islands, the Ber- 
mudas and Bahamas ; even on the larger island of Molokai 
the little silver cross has shone. 

In several foreign mission fields the order numbers several 
hundreds. In Japan five hundred faithful workers were repre- 
sented at their last conference. It became necessary to make 
it an international order because of the desire of foreign lands 



YOUXG PEOPLE'S SERVICES. 543 

to have branches of their own. It also became, instead of an 
organization of Daughters only, one including Sons of the 
King as well ; and now has at various points a great number 
of circles of young men, boys, and many clergymen, devoting 
themselves to the work of lifting humanity out of its sin and 
misery and suffering in the name and for the sake of Christ. 

The spiritual work of this society has been wide and deep, 
and is always emphasized by its leaders. Multitudes of Chris- 
tians have testified to a deepened religious life through its influ- 
ence, and multitudes have been drawn into a life of devotion 
who were formerly careless as to religious responsibilities. Out 
of this " development of spiritual life " has grown a marvelous 
increase in " Christian activities." It would require the space 
of a small volume to tell what members of the order have 
done. They have worked for every class of sufferer from the 
highest to the lowest. In times of flood and yellow fever 
their relief bands and nurses have been among the first to 
volunteer. They have built and furnished hospitals, and the 
corps of visitors who sing or read or carry delicacies or try to 
comfort in some way the suffering inmates of hospitals, asy- 
lums, orphanages, and homes for the aged, numbers in the 
aggregate many hundreds. 

The Tenement-house Chapters strive to do for the inmates 
of tenement-homes of our cities all the things that will minis- 
ter to the comfort and relief of inmates, and especially aim 
to help them to become self-supporting. To this end they 
cooperate through the charity organization societies, with a 
view to avoid pauperizing and doing more harm than good. 
Where immediate relief in sickness is needed, nursing and 
delicacies are provided ; but the effort and intention is to 
bring parents into steady employment, children into schools 
and Sunday-schools, the home into comfort, and the whole 
household under the influence of a higher and better life. 

Wherever fifty members unite in the same line of work they 
form chapters, and put all their forces together for the prose- 
cution of that work. A hundred members entitle a State to a 



544 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

State secretary, and over thirty-five States have their own local 
organization. 

The headquarters of the order are at 158 West Twenty-third 
Street, New York. The magazine devoted to its interest is 
the Silver Cross, and in its pages may be found whatever re- 
lates to the interests of the order throughout the world. All 
information may be secured at the above address. The 
growth of the order and its success in relieving suffering and 
doing good work naturally entitles it to the high rank it holds 
among the regenerative influences of the time. If it never 
did anything more than it has done already its work would 
justify its existence ; but those most familiar with its motives, 
its progress, its purposes and plans, predict for it a future of 
constantly increasing usefulness and power. 

Our Young People. 

" FOR HIS SAKE, AND IN HIS NAME." 

ELLEN M. H. GATES. 

If some morning, sweet and clear, 
'Neath our windows we should hear 
A voice crying, " Wake from sleep ; 
Let your hearts with gladness leap : 
Ere the ending of the day 
Christ himself will come this way ; 
Through the crowded, dusty street 
Make a pathway for his feet — " 

Then what running to and fro 
In the homes of high and low! 
All our best things we would bring 
For the great King's welcoming ; 
Yes, and all our hopes and fears 
We would lay, with sobs and tears, 
At his feet ; each soul would cry, 
" Thou hast made me ; here am I." 



YOUXG PEOPLE'S SERVICES. 545 

He would listen while we prayed, 
And his fingers would be laid 
On our foreheads, hot with pain ; 
And as softly as the rain 
Falls on roses, would his touch 
Bless and heal us ; and how much 
That no mortal ever hears 
We would whisper in his ears ! 

He would pity me and you, 

For he knows us through and through ; 

In a world of fire and frosts 

He has felt what living costs ; 

While we cried, ' Oh, make us whole ; 

Heal and help us, flesh and soul ! " 

He would answer, " Go thy way ; 

Help the others ; watch and gray." 

Gladly, swiftly, we would go 
On his errands to and fro ; 
What were riches, honor, fame ? 
To help others " in his name," 
At his bidding, were more great 
Than to stand in royal state, 
Clad in purple fit for kings 
At their proudest revelings. 

Though we stay at home and wait 
For his coming, long and late, 
We shall never hear the cry, 
" Christ himself is passing by;" 
For more loudly all the time, 
From all nations, every clime, 
Comes a cry for greater light, 
Stronger helpers in the fight. 



c;46 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

There are answerings to the cry : 
" Here am I, and I, and I ;" 
And the blind ones feel the light 
Flickering toward them through the night ; 
In the deaf and deadened ears 
Ring vibrations, and the years 
Which so wearily are trod 
Lift the peoples nearer God. 

Wheresoe'er the sick and faint 
Bear their burdens, make their plaint, 
Where a stricken human soul 
Cries to God to make it whole, 
There the King's own children go, 
Seeking but his will to know ; 
Pressing on through flood and flame, 
" For his sake, and in his name." 

Silver Cross. 

BROTHERHOOD OF ST. ANDREW. 

The Brotherhood of St. Andrew is an organization of men 
in the Protestant Episcopal Church, founded in Chicago in 
1883, named after the apostle who, when he had found the 
Messiah, first found his own brother Simon, and brought him 
to Jesus. It began in the association of twelve young men 
in St. James's Church, Chicago, who " agreed to pray daily 
for the spread of Christ's kingdom among young men, and to 
make an earnest effort each week to bring at least one young 
man within the hearing of the gospel." Other Brotherhoods 
were formed, until in 1886 there were 36 ; and a convention 
held that year represented Brotherhoods in seven States, and 
organized the united society as it now exists, electing a council 
of fifteen to promote the work. The order has extended until 
the report of 1894 declares 1034 chapters on the active list, 
with 11,500 members and 1000 probationers. In 1895 there 



YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERVICES. 547 

were Brotherhoods of like organizations in Canada, and in 
England, Scotland, and Australia. The Brotherhood in the 
United States issues a monthly periodical entitled St. An- 
drew's Cross. It has also a Boys' Department. 



BROTHERHOOD OF ANDREW AND PHILIP. 

This society was organized in May, 1888, in the Reformed 
church in Reading, Pa., under the pastorate of Rev. Rufus 
W. Miller, as a means of reaching the young men in the par- 
ish. The order has two rules: (1) the Rule of Prayer, that 
each member shall pray daily for the spread of Christ's king- 
dom among men ; and (2) the Rule of Service, that each shall 
make an earnest effort each week to bring at least one young 
man within the hearing of the gospel. 

Other brotherhoods in fellowship were soon organized, but 
for some years only in churches of the Reformed denomina- 
tion; but in September, 1891, a brotherhood was established 
in the Memorial Presbyterian Church in Newark, N. J., and 
since then the society has extended rapidly. 

The first Federal Convention of the order was held in New 
York, November 3, 1893; and there were then reported 165 
chapters, of which about 90 had been organized during the 
year 1892-93, and over 3000 members. 



BOYS' BRIGADE. 

The Boys' Brigade was instituted by Mr. William A. Smith, of 
Glasgow, Scotland, in 1883, "to establish true Christian man- 
liness, and to disabuse boys of the notion that religion is 
something for Sundays only." Companies were formed in 
connection with churches, missions, and Sunday-schools, and 
boys are trained largely by military drill. In 1892 there were 
245 companies in Scotland, 220 in England, and 35 in Ireland, 



548 THOUGHTS FOR THE OCCASION. 

with an enrolment of 21,000 boys from twelve to seventeen 
years of age. Partly by the interest and exertions of Professor 
Henry Drummond, the movement has recently extended to 
Canada and the United States; and in 1895 there were re- 
ported over 1500 companies in the United States, the United 
Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and 
elsewhere, with a membership of over 50,000. The first au- 
tumnal review of the Baptist Boys' Brigade of New York and 
Brooklyn was held in the armory of the Twelfth Regiment, 
Thanksgiving day, 1893. 



BAPTIST YOUNG PEOPLE'S UNION OF 
AMERICA. 

This organization was formed to provide a fraternal union 
for all young people':, organizations in the Baptist churches of 
North America. A convention was called for this purpose, 
and met in Chicago, 111., July 7, 1891, and elected a president 
and other permanent officers of the Union ; and a board of 
managers was chosen, which acts through an executive 
committee. 

The Union calls international conventions, representing 
Baptist churches in the United States and Canada, but with 
no attempt to exercise any legislative functions. 

The Third International Convention was held in Indian- 
apolis, Ind., in July, 1893. It was attended by 3500 delegates 
from 29 State and provincial unions. 

The Union publishes a weekly religious newspaper. The 
secretary and editor is Rev. Frank L. Wilkins, D.D., 122 
Wabash Avenue, Chicago, 111. 






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